Repression of the Yezidis in the Armenian and Georgian SSRs in 1930–1940

Abstract

This article examines the repression of the Soviet Yezidis during the Stalin period and analyses the state policy toward this minority. Like all Soviet people, the Yezidis were subjected to repression and deportation during this period. However, unlike in central Russia, the persecution against them was less severe and did not occur on a mass scale. Although the repressions of the 1920s and 1930s decapitated the Yezidis and weakened the influence of the tribal nobility, they did not result in the destruction of their social structure, which persists to this day. As a result of the repressions, the Yezidis’ isolation was broken, accelerating their integration into Soviet society.