Armenians residing in the Kurdish city of Zakho, near the border with Turkey, massively mobilized to commemorate the 102nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. They themselves came from the families of the displaced and deported dispersed in the Ottoman Empire by the Turkish authorities of the time and who found refuge in these mountainous regions populated mainly by Kurds and confining with the Autonomous Kurdistan of Iraq . There are currently some 200 Armenian families in the town of Zakho, who feel safe in this town about 200 km north-west of Erbil, the capital of autonomous Kurdistan, which in recent years has hosted a large number Christians, including Armenians, but also members of other religious minorities, such as the Yezidis, who had to flee the persecution and massacre perpetrated in other parts of Iraq by the jihadists of the Islamic state. “We are only a handful in Kurdistan. But thanks to God, we enjoy most of our rights, “said Ishkhan Milko, an Armenian member of the Duhok Provincial Council.

The Armenians have a seat in this Regional Council and a seat in the Parliament of Autonomous Kurdistan. Although Armenians are few in number, they still hold the painful memory of a history marked by the genocide of 24 April 1915. “The Armenians emigrated from Bitlis, Erzurum, Van, Mush, And other localities in Northern Kurdistan [in Turquoise], “said Dr. Hogir Mohammed, a Kurdish researcher on the Armenian genocide, referring to the fate of the inhabitants of the Turkish cities to the east and South-eastern region of Turkey, a region more commonly referred to as Kurdistan than Armenia by the Kurds. “They have traveled on different roads, some passing through the Syrian desert, and some of them have chosen to settle in Syria, others to Jordan and Egypt. Some others came to settle in Iraqi Kurdistan, where the city of Zakho was the gateway, “said the Kurdish researcher who recalled that Zakho has an Armenian school, which was founded in 1969.” Many Muslims frequented The school of the Church. We were studying alongside the Armenians, and then they came here, “said Fahmi Ahmad, the director of the Armenian school, talking nostalgically about the time when the Armenians and Muslims were studying side by side. Islam, Muslims to Christianity “.