Êzîdî in Armenia and Georgia: the Oldest Diaspora

As of: 2026-06. This article covers the Êzîdî communities of the South Caucasus, the oldest continuously existing Êzîdî diaspora in the world: its origins in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the cultural flowering of the Soviet era, the situation in Armenia and Georgia today, and the identity debate. The persecutions in the Ottoman Empire appear here only as the cause of flight (in detail: Chronicle of the Fermans and Genocides against the Êzîdî). The worldwide population figures are given in the article Diaspora and Demography, this article explores in depth the history behind the Caucasus numbers. Methodology: All figures are sourced; where the years given in the sources contradict each other, both are cited. Statements on the identity question are strictly attributed to the respective positions, the article takes no side.

Introduction

Anyone driving through an Êzîdî village on the slopes of Mount Aragats, or meeting elderly Êzîdî in Yerevan, encounters something puzzling at first glance: people who speak Kurmancî, but who for decades read and wrote it in Cyrillic letters. Their parents listened to news and folk songs in their mother tongue broadcast by the state-run Radio Yerevan; their grandparents read a Kurmancî-language newspaper published in the Armenian capital. How did this come about?

The answer leads into the history of the oldest Êzîdî diaspora in the world. While the large communities in Germany, Russia and North America emerged only in the second half of the 20th century, Êzîdî have lived in the South Caucasus for around two hundred years, as descendants of families who fled religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire across the Russian border [1][7]. Out of this flight grew a community that today constitutes the largest ethnic minority of the Republic of Armenia, holds a guaranteed seat in the Armenian parliament, and, with the Quba Mêrê Dîwanê in Aknalîç, opened in 2019, has built the largest Êzîdî temple in the world [1][16].

At the same time, this diaspora is a historical special case: nowhere else did Êzîdî culture experience a comparable institutional flowering in the 20th century, with its own schools, publishing houses, a theatre, a newspaper and radio broadcasting in the mother tongue. And nowhere else is the identity question, a people of its own, or part of the Kurdish people?, debated as openly as in Armenia (see below).

Arrival: Flight across the Tsar’s Border

The First Waves in the 19th Century

The Êzîdî settled in the territory of present-day Armenia and Georgia mainly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, fleeing religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire, where Ottoman authorities and Sunni Kurdish tribes exerted pressure on the community to convert [1][7]. The first major influx took place during the Russo-Persian and Russo-Turkish wars of 1828–1829; another wave followed in 1879–1882. The families came above all from the regions of Van, Kars and Doğubayazıt in eastern Anatolia. Tradition names Temur Agha and Usuv Beg as the leaders of this immigration [1][7].

The Russian Empire, which gained territories in the South Caucasus in these wars, offered the refugees what the Ottoman Empire had denied them: a life without forced conversion. The Êzîdî founded villages in the highlands, many on the slopes of Mount Aragats, where sheep herding remains the traditional main livelihood to this day [1].

1915: A Shared Fate with the Armenians

The second, larger wave came during the First World War. In the course of the genocide against the Armenians in 1915, Êzîdî were massacred as well; many fled together with Armenians into the Russian-controlled parts of Armenia [1][7]. This shared experience of persecution remains the foundation of the Êzîdî–Armenian relationship to this day, it explains much about the present-day position of the Êzîdî in Armenia, from early state recognition to the voluntary service of Êzîdî soldiers in the Karabakh wars (see below). The events of 1915 themselves, part of the Ferman count in Êzîdî memory, are presented in detail in the Chronicle of the Fermans.

Georgia: the Community of Tbilisi

The main wave reached Georgia in the early 20th century, likewise fleeing persecution in Ottoman territory. Unlike in Armenia, the Êzîdî here settled almost exclusively in the capital Tbilisi and became part of the urban working class [4]. Institutional recognition came remarkably early: as soon as 1919, the Georgian government permitted the registration of the “National Council of the Êzîdî” in Tbilisi [4][8]. In the 1950s, additional Êzîdî moved from Armenia to Tbilisi for economic reasons [4].

The Soviet Era: an Unexpected Flowering

A Nationality of Their Own: and Its Disappearance from the Statistics

The early Soviet Union initially recorded the Êzîdî as a distinct group: the census of 1926 counted Êzîdî and Kurds separately [9]. With the atheist turn in nationalities policy, this distinction disappeared from the 1939 census onwards, religiously grounded identities did not fit into the Soviet categories [9]. Only the last Soviet census of 1989 listed the Êzîdî again as a nationality of their own: 52,700 people in Armenia [1]. This statistical back-and-forth is the prehistory of the identity debate that occupies the community to this day (see below).

Schools and Three Alphabets

Despite these problems of classification, Soviet Armenia became the most important educational and cultural centre of the Kurmancî-speaking world, sustained overwhelmingly by Êzîdî. The first Êzîdî school in Armenia opened in 1920. In rapid succession, three alphabets for Kurmancî were created: in 1922 one based on Armenian letters, in 1927 a Latin one (developed with the participation of Erebê Şemo and Ishak Margolov), and finally in 1945/46: the year varies depending on the source, the Cyrillic Kurmancî alphabet of the Êzîdî linguist Heciyê Cindî [1][10][9].

For decades, the books, newspapers and school materials of the Êzîdî and Kurds of the entire Soviet Union appeared in this Cyrillic alphabet, the reason why elderly Êzîdî from Armenia and Georgia still read their mother tongue in Cyrillic script today. The full history of the writing systems is told in the article History of the Alphabets.

Riya Teze: “The New Path” (1930)

From 1930 onwards, the Kurmancî-language newspaper “Riya Teze” (“The New Path”) was published in Yerevan, one of the oldest Kurdish-language newspapers of all. Many of its makers and authors were Êzîdî, among them the poet and educator Casimê Celîl [11][12][1]. The newspaper was shut down in 1937 during the Stalinist terror and only permitted again in 1955 [11].

Radio Yerevan: “Êrêvan xeber dide” (1955)

On 1 January 1955, the Kurmancî broadcasts of Radio Yerevan officially began; the first head of the Kurdish editorial office was the Êzîdî Casimê Celîl, who had been building up the editorial team since 1954 [12][13][1]. There had already been first Kurdish broadcasts in the 1930s, which were stopped in 1937 [12].

The impact of these broadcasts, music, literature, news, reached far beyond the Soviet Union. For Kurds and Êzîdî in Turkey, where Kurmancî was suppressed, the announcement “Êrêvan xeber dide” (“Yerevan speaking”) was often the only radio broadcasting in their mother tongue. The station’s archive preserved thousands of folk songs [12][13].

Theatre and Scholarship

The stage was also part of the cultural infrastructure: the Kurdish People’s Theatre of Alagyaz, founded in 1937, staged around 30 plays by 1947 [1][12]. In scholarship, Soviet Armenia became the main centre of Kurmancî-language literature and, after Leningrad, the second centre of Kurdology in the USSR. This research was sustained overwhelmingly by Êzîdî families, above all the Celîl family (Russified: Dzhalilov) and the Cindî family [1][12].

The Rupture: the Stalinist Terror of 1937

The flowering was not unbroken. In the Great Terror of 1937, Riya Teze and the radio broadcasts were shut down and intellectuals were banished, among them the writer Erebê Şemo (see below). Only after Stalin’s death, from 1955 onwards, were the institutions revived [11][14].

Erebê Şemo and the Books of Yerevan

The First Novel in Kurmancî

The literary emblem of the Caucasus Êzîdî is Erebê Şemo (1897–1978). Born in Susuz near Kars, then part of the Russian Empire, he took part in 1927 in the development of the Latin Kurmancî alphabet and worked from 1931 at the Leningrad Oriental Institute [14]. His novel “Şivanê Kurmanca” (“The Kurmancî Shepherd”) is considered the first novel ever written in Kurmancî: autobiographically shaped: a shepherd boy becomes a revolutionary. As the year of publication, the sources give 1931 or 1935 (presumably a shorter first version around 1931 and an expanded Yerevan edition in 1935); moreover, the Kurdish original manuscript was lost for a long time and became accessible again only through back-translations from Russian [14][15].

Şemo’s biography mirrors the ruptures of his time: in 1937 he was banished in the Great Terror and could only return to Armenia in 1956 [14]. There he continued his work, with “Jiyana Bextewer” (1959), “Dimdim” (1966) and “Hopo” (1969). He died on 21 May 1978 in Yerevan [14].

Heciyê Cindî, Casimê Celîl and the Scholarly Families

Alongside Şemo, two other Êzîdî shaped the cultural history of the region: Heciyê Cindî (1908–1990), linguist and folklorist, creator of the Cyrillic Kurmancî alphabet of 1945/46 [10], and Casimê Celîl (1908–1998), poet, Riya Teze author and founding figure of the Kurdish editorial office of Radio Yerevan [12][13]. Celîl’s children, Ordîxanê, Celîlê and Cemîla Celîl, became significant Kurdologists and folklorists in their own right [12].

Portraits of these and other Êzîdî personalities, from the classics to the present day, are collected in the article Notable Personalities.

Armenia Today

Numbers and Areas of Settlement

The Êzîdî are the largest ethnic minority of Armenia. The 2022 census counted 31,079 Êzîdî (1.1% of the population), ahead of Russians, Assyrians and the separately counted Kurds (1,663) [1][2]. The census series, however, shows a steady decline: from 52,700 (1989) via 40,620 (2001) and 35,272 (2011) to 31,079 (2022) [1][3]. Representatives of the community consider the official figures too low and speak of more than 50,000 Êzîdî in the country, a figure that cannot be officially confirmed [1][3].

The largest concentration lives in the province of Armavir (43.5% of Armenia’s Êzîdî), followed by Aragatsotn (15.8%) and Ararat (14.6%). The largest Êzîdî village is Verin Artashat with around 4,270 inhabitants; traditionally, many villages lie on the slopes of Mount Aragats, where sheep herding is the main livelihood [1][3]. How these figures fit into the worldwide demography of the community is shown in the article Diaspora and Demography.

Political Representation

Armenian electoral law guarantees the four largest ethnic minorities one seat each in the National Assembly: the Êzîdî thus have guaranteed parliamentary representation [1]. Added to this is a growing cultural infrastructure: an Êzîdî national theatre in Vagharshapat (opened in 2021), school instruction in Êzdîkî/Kurmancî in the Êzîdî villages, and a chair of Kurdology/Oriental Studies in Yerevan [1][21].

Aknalîç: Ziarat and Quba Mêrê Dîwanê

The most visible sign of Êzîdî life in Armenia stands in the village of Aknalîç in the province of Armavir. There, in 2012, Ziarat, the first Êzîdî temple in Armenia, was built. A few metres away, in September 2019, the Quba Mêrê Dîwanê opened, the largest Êzîdî temple in the world: 25 metres high, with seven domes around a central arched structure, built of Armenian granite and Iranian marble, its design modelled on Laliş, with a seminary and a museum. The building was donated by Mirza Sloyan, an Êzîdî businessman of Armenian origin living in Russia; Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister attended the opening [16][17][18][1]. On the formal language of Êzîdî sacred architecture, see Sanctuaries and Sacred Architecture.

The Karabakh Wars and Kyaram Sloyan

The Êzîdî–Armenian bond also showed itself militarily: in the first Karabakh war, an Êzîdî volunteer battalion of around 500 men (named after Cangîr Axa) fought on the Armenian side [1]. The 19-year-old Êzîdî soldier Kyaram Sloyan (born 1996 in Artashavan) fell in the April War of 2016; his body was beheaded by Azerbaijani forces. Posthumously highly decorated, he became in Armenia a symbolic figure of the Êzîdî–Armenian brotherhood in arms [19]. In the 44-Day War of 2020, too, many Êzîdî volunteered [1].

The Social Situation: Recognition and Problems

The situation of the Êzîdî in Armenia is marked by a coexistence of far-reaching recognition and real problems. On the one hand, Armenia is considered one of the most Êzîdî-friendly countries in the world: state recognition as a distinct ethnicity (see below), a guaranteed parliamentary seat, mother-tongue schooling, temples, a theatre, academic structures [1][21].

On the other hand, reports by international organisations, including a 2004 UN-OHCHR report and analyses by the Minority Rights Group, document persisting disadvantages: lower educational attainment, disadvantages in land privatisation as well as in water and pasture rights, bullying of Êzîdî children, disproportionate hazing in military service, early marriage of girls and high school drop-out rates [3][20]. Added to this is continuing emigration: since the early 1990s, Armenian Êzîdî have been leaving the country, above all for Russia and Germany: for economic reasons, because of the remoteness of many villages, and after the end of Soviet minority support [3].

Both findings stand side by side: the legal and symbolic recognition is real, and so are the socio-economic problems.

The Identity Question: a People of Its Own, or Part of the Kurdish People?

No question is debated as controversially within the Caucasus diaspora as that of ethnic self-identification, and Armenia is the only country in the world in which this question has received an official answer.

The state recognition of 2002. At the request of a group around Aziz Tamoyan, the Armenian parliament in 2002 recognised the Êzîdî as a distinct ethnicity and their language as “Êzdîkî” [25][1][2]. Since then, Armenia has counted “Êzîdî” and “Kurds” separately in its censuses, in 2022: 31,079 versus 1,663 [25][1][2].

The position “a people of its own”. Aziz Tamoyan (1933–2021), long-time president of the Yezidi National Union, condensed this view into the formula “We are not Kurds”: the Êzîdî speak Êzdîkî and are a distinct, ancient people. This position is widespread among the Êzîdî of Armenia. According to its advocates, it was shaped by the historical experience that the persecutors of the 19th and 20th centuries were frequently Sunni Kurds, and it was further reinforced by the genocide of 2014 [25][26][27].

The position “part of the Kurdish people”. The majority view in scholarship classifies Êzdîkî as a variety of Kurmancî and describes the Êzîdî as a Kurmancî-speaking ethno-religious community. A part of Armenia’s Êzîdî as well, according to Rudaw, above all academics, and most Êzîdî organisations outside Armenia emphasise Kurdish belonging. They point out, among other things, that the Soviet cultural flowering, Riya Teze, Radio Yerevan, the theatre of Alagyaz, operated under the label of “Kurdish” institutions while being sustained by Êzîdî [26][27][9].

Assessment. Both self-understandings are lived reality within the community; the question is contested among the Êzîdî themselves and can become politically charged, not least in the field of tension between Armenia, Turkey and the PKK conflict. Critical voices, for instance in an analysis by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, accuse Yerevan of also using the separation between “Êzîdî” and “Kurds” politically, an accusation that supporters of the recognition reject [28][26]. ezdixan.de documents both positions without declaring either of them the “correct” one.

Georgia: the Êzîdî of Tbilisi

An Urban Community in Transition

The Êzîdî community of Georgia is small, old, and almost entirely urban. The 2014 census counted 12,174 Êzîdî (0.3% of the population), of whom 11,194 in Tbilisi [4][5]. The development since the end of the Soviet Union has been dramatic: in 1989, around 33,000 Êzîdî still lived in Georgia. In the 1990s, thousands fled economic collapse and discrimination, above all to Germany and Russia [4][6].

Into this period of shrinking falls a remarkable episode in the history of the religion: according to one report, religious dignitaries in Georgia in 2012 permitted a “return ritual” for Êzîdî who, partly under pressure of assimilation, had converted to Christianity; since Êzîdîsm traditionally knows no conversion, this would be a substantial innovation. The claim, however, rests on only a single source [6].

The Sultan Ezid Temple and the Theological Academy

Despite the emigration, the community of Tbilisi has expanded its infrastructure. The Êzîdî religion has been officially recognised in Georgia since 2011 [22]. In June 2015, the Sultan Ezid Temple with an attached cultural centre was opened in the Varketili district, designed after the model of Laliş, and at the time only the second or third Êzîdî temple outside Iraq. The Georgian government had donated the plot of land in 2009; construction began in 2012, carried out by the “House of the Êzîdî of Georgia” and financed by local businesspeople [22][23][24].

Since 2016, the (International) Êzîdî Theological Academy has been operating next to the temple, with instruction in religion, history and languages, a novel attempt to teach institutionally a body of religious knowledge traditionally passed on orally [8][22].

Connections to the Worldwide Community

The Caucasus diaspora is not a closed chapter but a living node in the worldwide Êzîdî network, in both directions.

What the Caucasus gave the worldwide community: The books, songs and broadcasts from Yerevan radiated for decades into the entire Kurmancî-speaking world, Radio Yerevan was often the only mother-tongue voice for listeners in Turkey, the first Kurmancî novel in history was written by an Êzîdî from the Caucasus, and the Yerevan song archive belongs to the cultural heritage of the whole community [12][13][14].

What the worldwide community gives the Caucasus: The largest temple in the world, in Aknalîç, was donated by an Êzîdî living in Russia [16][17], an example of how the migration networks that emerged after 1991 (Armenia/Georgia → Russia and Germany) now feed back. Many families in Germany and Russia have Caucasian roots; the paths of this secondary migration and today’s community sizes worldwide are documented in the article Diaspora and Demography.

Thus a circle closes: the descendants of those who fled across the Russian border in the 19th century now help sustain temples, archives and institutions for a community that, after the Ferman of 2014 (see Chronicle of the Fermans), lives more dispersed than ever before.

Personalities at a Glance

Detailed portraits of Êzîdî personalities from all eras and countries: Notable Personalities.

Sources

All sources retrieved on 11 June 2026.

1. Wikipedia: Yazidis in Armenia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis_in_Armenia
2. Armstat: Population Census 2022, https://www.armstat.am/en/?nid=743
3. Minority Rights Group: Yezidis in Armenia, https://minorityrights.org/communities/yezidis-kurds/
4. Wikipedia: Yazidis in Georgia / Yazidism in Georgia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis_in_Georgia
5. Civil Georgia: Geostat Final Results 2014 Census, https://civil.ge/archives/124561
6. yazidis.info: Yazidis in Georgia, the Yazidi population in Georgia has been dwindling since the 1990s, http://yazidis.info/en/news/35/yazidis-in-georgia-the-yazidi-population-in-georgia-has-been-dwindling-since-the-1990s
7. Wikipedia: Persecution of Yazidis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Yazidis
8. Kulturní studia: Between Orthopraxy and Orthodoxy, International Yezidi Theological Academy in Tbilisi (2022), https://kulturnistudia.cz/between-orthopraxy-and-orthodoxy-international-yezidi-theological-academy-in-tbilisi/
9. Wikipedia: Kurds in Armenia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds_in_Armenia
10. Omniglot: Kurdish language and alphabets, https://www.omniglot.com/writing/kurdish.htm
11. University of Exeter Special Collections: Rya T’eze and the Kurds in Armenia, https://specialcollections.exeter.ac.uk/2021/09/07/rya-teze-and-the-kurds-in-armenia/
12. Ajam Media Collective: How a Soviet Armenian Radio Station Preserved Kurdish Culture, https://ajammc.com/2021/06/13/radio-yerevan-kurdish-culture/
13. EVN Report: The Kurdish Voice of Radio Yerevan, https://evnreport.com/evn-youth-report/the-kurdish-voice-of-radio-yerevan/
14. Wikipedia: Erebê Şemo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erebê_Şemo
15. Rûpela Nû: Erebê Şemo’nun romanı ilk kez orijinal metniyle Türkçeye çevrildi, https://www.rupelanu.org/erebe-semonun-romani-ilk-kez-orijinal-metniyle-turkceye-cevrildi-17081h.htm
16. Wikipedia: Quba Mêrê Dîwanê, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quba_Mêrê_Dîwanê
17. Hetq: Dispatches from Aknalich, 1st Anniversary of the World’s Largest Yazidi Temple, https://hetq.am/en/article/121526
18. Armenian Weekly: Largest Yazidi Temple to Be Built in Armenia (2016), https://armenianweekly.com/2016/07/27/largest-yazidi-temple/
19. Wikipedia: Kyaram Sloyan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyaram_Sloyan
20. Refworld/MRG: World Directory of Minorities, Armenia: Yezidis & Kurds, https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d60c.html
21. Kurdistan24: Yerevan’s Department of Kurdology, https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/865727/
22. Wikipedia: Sultan Ezid Temple, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ezid_Temple
23. DFWatch: Yazidi temple, third in the world, opened in Tbilisi (2015), https://dfwatch.net/yazidi-temple-third-in-the-world-opened-in-tbilisi-36650
24. Rudaw: Yezidis of Georgia celebrate new temple in Tbilisi (2015), https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/180620152
25. Wikipedia: Yazidis (section Identity/Armenia 2002), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis
26. Rudaw: The Yezidis of Armenia Face Identity Crisis over Kurdish Ethnicity (2014), https://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/28052014
27. Wikipedia: Aziz Tamoyan / Yezidi National Union, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aziz_Tamoyan
28. IWPR: Armenia, Yezidi Identity Battle, https://iwpr.net/global-voices/armenia-yezidi-identity-battle

The Legal Framework: Constitution, Electoral Law and Minority Mandates

Behind the guaranteed seat lies a concrete legal mechanism that gives the Êzîdî in Armenia special protection under constitutional and electoral law. The Armenian constitution recognizes national minorities as bearers of their own rights: Article 28 guarantees equality before the law, Article 36 the right of all persons to preserve their national and ethnic identity and to maintain their language, culture and traditions [29]. On this basis, the Êzîdî faith is considered a recognized religion in Armenia and the Êzîdî a recognized national minority.

In concrete terms, representation is implemented through the Electoral Code, which was revised following the 2015 constitutional reform and applied from the 2017 election onward. It provides that the four largest minorities – according to the most recent census, the Êzîdî, Russians, Assyrians and Kurds – each receive one additional mandate. For this purpose, the parties and alliances each name a candidate from these four groups in a separate part of their electoral list. The four minority mandates are added to the regular seats, so that the National Assembly can expand from 101 to up to 105 seats [30][31].

The allocation follows a fixed procedure: the Êzîdî mandate – awarded first as the largest minority – goes to the Êzîdî candidate of the list with the most votes; that list’s coefficient is then halved, whereupon the next-strongest list receives the Russian mandate, and so on for Assyrians and Kurds [30][31]. Because the Êzîdî constitute by far the largest minority after every census, in practice their seat is always the first one awarded. Thus, for example, Rustam Makhmudyan entered parliament as an Êzîdî deputy for the years 2017–2021; in the following legislative terms the mandate was filled again [30]. Armenia is therefore the only state in the world that grants the Êzîdî a fixed parliamentary seat anchored in constitutional and electoral law.