10.2006 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

Kurds/Yezids make up 0.48% of the population; they are concentrated in Tbilisi and in the town of Telavi; only around 30% of Kurds/Yezids speak Kurdish ("Implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities in Georgia: A Feasibility Study") [ID 18362]

"The term ‘Kurd’ refers to an ethnolinguistic group that is dispersed over parts of the southern Caucasus, Turkey and the northern Middle East (mainly Iran, Iraq and Syria). The term ‘Yezid’ refer to the community of Kurds that has retained its traditional religion. According to the 2002 Census there are 18,329 Yezids and 2,514 Kurds. However, according to representatives of the Yezid community in Georgia, there is no real distinction between these two communities. Virtually all Georgian Kurds are Yezids, except for a tiny minority of Muslim Kurds who are mainly nomadic citizens from Azerbaijan. Kurds/Yezids made up 0.48% of the population of Georgia. Above all, they are concentrated in Tbilisi; 1.6% of Tbilisi’s population identified themselves as ‘Yezids’ in 2002 (although this does not include those who identified themselves as ‘Kurds’). There is also a significant population of Kurds/Yezids in the town of Telavi.National Congress of, only around 30% at most of Kurds/Yezids speak Kurdish and this The main threat facing the Kurd/Yezid population of Georgia is the loss of the language and religion. According to Agit Mirzoev, the head of the Kurd/Yezids of Georgia figure is much lower amongst young people. Moreover, the traditional system of religious instruction is breaking down and the two higher castes have been unable to provide proper instruction to the young, leaving many young Yezids with a very tentative grasp of their own religion. Some have converted to the Georgian Orthodox Church or have become Jehovah’s Witnesses, which signifies their exit from the Kurd/Yezid community. There is therefore a danger that the Yezids in Georgia may eventually disappear. 58 Thus in 2002"

Document(s): Open document

10.2006 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

The Yezid religion is a monotheistic religion; there is controversy over the origins of the religion; it is influenced by Zoastrianism, Sufi Islam, Judaism and Christianity ("Implementing the Framework Convention for the Protection of Minorities in Georgia: A Feasibility Study") [ID 18368]

"The Yezid religion is a highly complex and little-known monotheistic religion that isoften described as ‘pagan’. The Yezid God, Malak Tawus, sometimes referred to as the‘Peacock Angel’, symbolises fire and encapsulates both good and evil. There is controversy over the origins of the religion; some scholars claim that it was founded by Sheikh Adi ibn Mustafa during the 12th and 13th centuries, although most Yezids claim that their religion is far older and co-existed alongside Mithraism in the beginning of the first Millennium BC. Whatever its origin, it is clearly influenced by Sufi Islam, Judaism, Christianity and, above all, by Zoastrianism. Yezids are divided into three castes: two elite castes, the sheikhs and the pirs, and a lower caste, the murids. The sheikhs and the pirs are charged with instructing the rest of the community on matters of religion; the former group is expected to perform the role of ‘spiritual brothers’, while the latter are ‘spiritual teachers’. Yezid society is endogamous and every Yezid male has a ‘spiritual brother’ and a ‘spiritual teacher’ drawn from sheikh and pir families with which his family has had a spiritual relationship over generations. The mother tongue of Georgian Yezids is the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish, an Indo-Iranian language that belongs to the Indo-European family."

Document(s): Open document

02.06.2005 - Source: International Federation for Human Rights

Report on ethnic minorities, specially focused on cases related to Yezidi Kurds, and the minorities in the regions of Tsalka and Samtskhe-Javakhetia ("Ethnic minorities in Georgia") [#32580],  [ID 5047]

Document(s): Open document

13.02.2003 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

IWPR: Georgia's Kurdish community say they are in danger of losing their culture, language and faith ("Georgia: Kurdish Minority Facing Oblivion") [#10857],  [ID 5051]

""We are all alone," mused Georgy Shamoyev, president of the Georgian Kurdish Rights Group. "All ethnic minorities in Georgia have the backing of their historical homelands, but not us. Even Assyrians, who have no state of their own either, are patronised personally by the Papal Nuncio to Georgia."

Launching his non-governmental organisation, two years ago, Shamoyev wanted it to be a mouthpiece for Georgia's Kurdish community, which had never formed any organisations before, and presently finds itself on the lowest rung of Georgian society.

"Our community is disorganised, politically indifferent and, for the most part, poorly educated," explained Georgian language teacher Lili Safarova, deputy chair of the Yezidi Association of Georgia. "Four schools in Tbilisi teach Kurdish, but none of them has any books for students or teachers.

"The authorities simply ignore us. That is not hard as we don't have a single representative in parliament, the town hall or the city authorities."
[...]
The Yezidi Kurds, who are neither Muslim nor Christian, migrated to the Caucasus en masse at the turn of the 20th century, fleeing from religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire along with Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians.

The Dutch scholar, Martin van Bruinessen, puts the total population of Yezidi Kurds in the world at 150,000. According to his records, most of them live in Iraq, while there may be up to 40,000 in both Georgia and Armenia, which are traditionally tolerant of non-Muslim Kurds.

No accurate statistics exist for the current Kurdish population in Georgia. "During the 2002 population census there was no box for 'Kurdish' on the nationality section of the form," explained Mrad Mrodi, a Yezidi lawyer. "There was a box for 'Turkish', although there are a few dozen Turks in Georgia as against thousands of Kurds. I refused to take part in the census in protest."
[...]
And the Kurds are leaving. A few years ago, there were several villages in Georgia's eastern Kakheti region, populated exclusively by Kurds. Now, most of the villagers have gone.

The largest portion of Georgia's Yezidi Kurds live in Tbilisi's "dormitory districts", where housing is much cheaper than in the centre of town. Most of them do menial jobs. Street cleaners in the city have always tended to be Kurdish women. They stand out from the crowd in their bright-orange vests worn on top of long pleated velvet skirts.

"Kurds have been marginalised in Georgia politically, socially and economically. Unless we overcome this inferiority complex, Georgian Kurds will disappear as an ethnic group," said Georgy Shamoyev."

Document(s): Open document