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On September 29, the RA NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov received the members of the Yazidi Solidarity International Committee, which was comprised of the Member of the Turkish Parliament Ali Atalan, the deputy of the RF Yaroslavl Marz Duma Mikhail Khalatyan, the Head of the Syrian Yazidi Union Himad Yusiv and others. The RA NA deputies Knyaz Hasanov and Rustam Makhmudyan also attended the meeting.

Welcoming the guests’ visit to the Armenian Parliament, Eduard Sharmazanov has brotherly assessed the Armenian-Yazidi centuries-old relations and has underlined that the Republic of Armenia highlights the role and importance of the national minorities. In this context the NA Deputy Speaker has touched upon the implemented constitutional amendments and has noted that from now on they have their seats in the parliament and the national minorities’ representatives can voice out loud the problems. Regarding the two peoples’ passed path, the RA NA Deputy Speaker emphasized the united struggle against the crimes committed and being committed against mankind and particularly the consolidation over the issues directed at the protection of human rights.

Talking about the violence committed in different times towards the Yazidis, the NA Deputy Speaker underlined that the RA President Serzh Sargsyan condemned the inhuman violence and crimes committed towards the Yazidis in the north of Iraq in 2014 from the UN high tribune.

In this context Eduard Sharmazanov informed that the next year sees the 70^th anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide adopted in 1948 by the UN, and within this framework Armenia will undertake new initiatives against genocidal policy.

During the meeting the guests thanked the NA Deputy Speaker for being hosted in the Armenian Parliament and underlined the commonalities and the passed path in the crossroads of the Armenian and Yazidi people, highlighted their united steps directed to the future.

The Member of the Turkish Parliament Ali Atalan emphasized the consolidation of the two peoples’ efforts aimed at the solution of the common problems, and considered necessary the condemnation of the crimes committed against the Yazidis.