Jan 16, 2018

Armenia's parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution recognising the 2014 genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State group in Iraq and called for an international probe into the crimes.

Jihadists murdered thousands in massacres four years ago. Thousands of other women and girls were abducted and used as sex slaves.

"With this resolution we not only recognise and condemn the genocide, we also call on the international community to lead an international investigation," said Rustam Makhmudyan, the Yazidi deputy of a parliamentary human rights commission.

"As a nation that has lived through genocide, the Armenian people understand the significance of this recognition," said Armen Ashotyan, a ruling party lawmaker.

There are around 35,000 Yazidis in Armenia, making them the largest minority group in the ex-Soviet state. The world's biggest Yazidi temple is currently being built in a small Armenian vi