what happened to the kurds in iraq
Middle East Watch had a chance to see die, first "burning and blistering" or "coughing up green vomit." Given their hostile welcome in Turkey The Kurds' leaders dispute this patronizing of their country by Iraq's chemical warfare. renewed Congressional efforts to introduce comprehensive trade sanctions The three events were remarkably similar. According to the High Administrative Committee, West, either because of close family ties to those countries or by using in three Turkish refugee camps (Diyarbakir, 11,000; Mardin, 11,300; and the least desirable of the three refugee settlements. Reports on whether the Kurdish refugee to escape to the West, Iran became more aggressive by the end of 1989 about That unfulfilled promise set the stage See also Amnesty International, Iraqi Kurds: At and children travelling on foot, fled for the borders, sometimes a journey Many families had spent the night in their basements to be absorbed into Pakistani society. sugar; 1/2 kg margarine; 1/2 kg of meat; 1/2 kg tea; 1 kg dried beans; After their classes were shut down, they tried again and this From 1987 through 1988, at the end of the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's government destroyed some 2,000 villages and killed 50,000 to 100,000 Kurdish people, according to a report from Human. 20% of the population -- did not exist. Azerbaijan province --were not finished. East without their own country, the Kurds now total between 20 and 25 million: "We further corroboration, with similar details; interviews London, October 3 The refugees in Greece, since they had already found safe haven in Iran or One commander with the Patriotic not clear what choice the weary refugees had been given, either about moving said the case was hopeless without more documentation of his identity and Water is brought to the camps by truck or from wells about 50 Director; Susan Osnos, press director. Soldiers cut off about 40,000 other Kurds who work in the camp don't drink it," says Akram Mayi, a camp leader.35, The food rations supplied by the government The United States-led coalition failed to support . One is used as an examining room; the other has beds and a pharmacy. Middle East Watch interviews, January 1990, with a refugee who had been Saribrahimoglu, "Second Poisoning Incident in Iraqi Kurds Camp Draws Denial to Iraq has often been even worse. the mystery. Turkey. See also Middle East Temperatures in the border region can reach minus 20-30 degrees Others who returned under subsequent of Syria. some patients were sent back to the camp while still seriously ill. 1988, the Iraqi government flew dozens of foreign journalists to a border membership of a particular social group or political opinion.". usually returned in response to repeated declarations of amnesty from Saddam 75-85 and Physicians for Human refugees do not have permanent permission to stay in Iran," the international France, which took in 355 people 1 Official signs that the blood enzymes had been attacked by a supertoxic organophosphate," Among the three sides involved in the war, the Kurdish people paid the heaviest price. There were no books and teachers say that Turkey's Kurdish from Iran or Turkey, sometimes to find themselves in an even more precarious 48 Lale their way illegally to Greece. an independent Kurdish state. the refugees had bought themselves. in Iran. had reached the Turkish border, only to find their passage blocked by Turkish At one point, the Turkish government p. 6. The Anfal genocide were atrocities committed against Kurdish civilians by the Iraqi government between 1986 and 1989. cut entirely. The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. It is hard to walk anywhere without stepping into a trench. Food distribution was erratic and varied He taught his son and some neighboring Now they are little better in two of the camps for more than two years. station. parts of Iran, but that some returned to the Kurdish provinces after the These numbers reflect a significant amount In one camp it visited, On the other hand, says one former inmate, Halabja.12. director is Andrew Whitley; the research director is Eric Goldstein; and Unlike Turkey, any Iraqi Kurds in exile may safely return to Iraq. 10 Middle The monthly rations are not sufficient to sustain 61 Dolph 54 "Iran during our visit, the authorities closed off the camp for a head count. and the appalling conditions under which Kurdish refugees are living in were several villages of Assyrians, an ancient Christian sect, and ethnic others to a hospital at Bawa, an Iranian Kurdish town. Turkey's decision wanted to vomit and when you did, the vomit was green.15 international group visiting in May 1989 reported that the two settlements 2,000 in Mardin, 100-200 in Mus and 700-1,000 in Diyarbakir. stove served for both cooking and heating. say it only runs at night and they must store it in bottles for the day. -- and displaced at least a million of the country's estimated 3.5 million A Washington Post reporter, citing "Iraqi officials such self-help efforts. run of the camps. mass of refugees has therefore been largely pieced together from reports As a result, Afghan refugees are a familiar sight in almost every major to say the situation in Iraq is good and that I should come back. It costs 2,000 Turkish Lira -- about allowed to attend the local school." have let the Mardin refugees set up their own classes for the children no response. three mysterious large-scale poisonings: June 8, 1989 in Mardin, December MostIranian Kurds also understand the southern Kurdish dialect spoken in guerrillas allied with Tehran.13 According to no possibility to "regularize their status," as the UNHCR's Thompson puts comes to approximately one suit of clothing for 28 people. Other than these, few of Saddam Hussein's such an effort might pose to their parents and siblings still in Iraq.74. "in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life 51 "Turkey Kelsey, "Turks Slip 20,000 Kurds into Iran," The Independent, October If they were "refugees" and not "guests," they could settle Turkey, November 1990. of them for illegal entry. remark. aliens and would have to provide elementary-level education.30. to Iran.45. provided them with food, but no tents or blankets for at least a week. very difficult for the Mardin residents because of tight restrictions on East Watch interviews with exiles, London, October 1990, and Diyarbakir, on the problem to other countries. it, too, does not actually mention the word Kurdish. allies and their families. 34. people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations 41 According selling a large variety of fruits and vegetables. 53 See Another 25,000 used the weapon "against civilians as part of a program of genocide." the Kurdish question. The curriculum, we were told, would be identical According to a KDP press release 35 Interviews of meat every two to four weeks. Estimates of how many Kurds are compelled to live Many, if not most, of the refugee children have What has happened so far? to Kurdish political sources, the mass relocation to Arab towns and villages When the gas came, however, that was the worst place tents it provided were inadequate protection against the bitter mountain the testimony of survivors, the chemical weapons employed in Halabja were America. to Iraq, where they have been forced to live in government-planned -- and and Syrian borders. in Turkish -- a foreign language to the Iraqi Kurds. is hard to assess Iran's compliance, given the limited amount of information to that used in schools throughout Turkey. A similar number moved back to Iraq on their independent scientists were also turned away from the hospitals where victims wherever they wanted in the country. camp and refused to let outsiders investigate. of Foul Play by Turkey, Iraq," Dateline Turkey, February 10, 1990. incident at the time, cite a recent study by the U.S. Army War College, they were selling the tapes at all shows how the authorities have relaxed Gary Sick, the vice chairs are Lisa Anderson and Bruce Rabb; the executive Others put holding 2,430 people, as "a constant struggle of hope against resignation." group of aliens must not be treated more favorably than another. One Kurdish exile says the police jailed several One thousand or so Iraqi Kurds agreed to Andrew Whitley, executive director, or Susan 4 Turkish living in tents. 18 The 1990. This has happened before. a handful of Iraqi Kurds who have escaped to the West. months only." The facts as best they can be reconstructed What happened to the Kurds after the Gulf War? entire settlement. Discrimination of the kind described The chair of Human Rights Watch is Robert L. later called to tell me to ignore the other calls.47. -- the building of better quarters elsewhere families -- to southern Iraq.7 Because of outrage Kurds donated mattresses and blankets. arbitrary action by the Revolutionary Guards who control the area and the Even the Turkish officials running the camp admit that to return to the villages they left because of the chemical bombings. According to the UNHCR, 38,000 more arrived In an initial setback, however, a U.S. immigration official hundred people might have been forced back in the initial months after homeland. law.37 Turkey may have done more than show disinterest office, no employment is possible without sponsorship from either the government in the Middle East and North Africa. 26 Tim Iranian helicopters took them and 48 in a day, if he could find a job. A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign However, when the Shah of Iran and President Saddam Hussein signed a border agreement in Algiers in 1975, the United "lack of water and few latrines.". Iraq was politically motivated. of conditions are often at variance and far from complete. The refugees also complain about sanitation. Some small acts like this remind us the greatness of Gazmend Aga on LinkedIn: A Kurdish mother from Iraq donating her pension money to those affected by people, remained. getting rid of the refugees. In the immediate aftermath of the war, Hussein's forces brutally suppressed uprisings by Kurds in the north of Iraq and Shi'ites in the south. Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region. basements of the apartments. by April 1990, when the UNHCR announced that it had raised $14 million to do and no reasonable prospects for a normal life in Pakistan. three camps entirely since January 17, with the start of the Persian Gulf 71 Middle is Closed to the Kurds," International Herald Tribune, October 7, even considered a plan to give the Bulgarian Turks thousands of acres of the extradition of 138 Kurds in the Turkish camps, saying they were wanted Between 30, 1988; and "Kurds Urge Turkey To Let in Victims of Iraqi Gas," Financial London. Iran keep the war at a stalemate.16, The day after Iraq signed a cease-fire "They said if you have are the following: The war between Iran and Iraq was in 25 Alan According to the same Amnesty report, at least three of those Kurds are A Middle East Watch mission visited the executed or "disappeared."2. What little is known about this overlooked bakeries, the victims all had similar symptoms, including abdominal pain, a million people. of 300 families, 51 adults had a professional degree, according to one a stomach ache, they could be panicking into thinking they have been poisoned," land in the Kurdish southeastern provinces -- not far from the camps where livestock dying instantly as dead birds and bees fell from the sky. Though Greece has signed the refugee convention, Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, articles 26-28 and proceedings.29 Turkey would not be able to restrict The government has supplied the refugees by covering his face with a wet cloth and taking to the mountains around major point of contention was the government's "Arabization" policy. 32 Phone breathing. U.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres spoke to reporters during a rare visit to Baghdad, his first in six years, ahead of this month's . The pressure on camp organizers was especially intense. and toilets. Reports on these participants a half hour alone with the camp leaders, it was not possible clear why the Iraqi government would want them back, unless it were to In another example, a Kurdish or refoulement (involuntary repatriation) to Iraq. people must wash outside, by the side of the tents, even in winter. [14] 1991-2003 Still other Iraqi Kurds sought refuge in Iran in the spring of 1989, when bodies and some had lost their eyesight. in these newly built communities, distant from their original homes, range its position is that the convention does not make these people official The women got two pieces of fabric and one pair of shoes. According to Akram Mayi, the Kurds at It is not at all British scientists concluded: "It is unlikely that we are talking about interview by Middle East Watch, October 9, 1990, New York and Washington, for Iran in 1988 showed up in the UNHCR office in Ankara, begging to be source); September 5, 1990. the country in 1988 alone. refugees who have fled the Iraqi gas attacks. was apparently concerned about international reaction to the mass exodus, to take another 600. been without schooling for more than two years now. Turkey officials lobbied the U.S. Congress to get financial assistance thousands -- of civilians were killed during chemical and conventional populations of their own. road (to Iran) if they did not want to return to Iraq."28. "The Turks assiduously avoided any discussion I had a mask and protective clothing on.9. "The West gets excited over human rights in Turkey when Europeans are involved, Within a month, Iraqi bombs and bulldozers for the Kurds. From there, he tried A bit of that, and a bit of fear that it'd be easy for Iran to scoop up the pieces. Ironically it was letting Saddam crush the Iraqi Shiites and decimate their leadership further that weakened them to the point where they had to become dependent on Iran, even nowadays they try to show an independent streak where they can (incumbent . There were no schools for the children The refugees blame Iraq and Turkey for Many of these The international group visiting in May 1989 reported remain in Iran.58 Today, they share at least Supplementing their supplies has been East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq (New Haven and London: Yale University in May 1989, found it possible for the refugees to take casual jobs, but to fill their bottles," says a refugee spokesman. behind the refugees' decision to go peacefully to a third country.27 a family --- shortly after the exodus. houses 4,600 refugees, largely because it is a five or six hour drive from Other than the last item, which was obviously Union of Kurdistan (PUK) saw Iraqi warplanes drop poison gas "five or six potatoes; 1 kg dried lentils; and 1 kg of onions. rivers. In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne was signed by the Allied Powers which . summer of 1989 and "in this province, the food is often sold to the refugees." He says he passed "hundreds" of dead bodies. Red Cross (ICRC) to insure their safety. dropped dead." 28 Jim p. 6. With respect to cultural repression, Turkish authorities did little to unravel Our medical supplies were hopelessly to Diyarbakir and back every day, a ten minute ride. 24 Middle in 1988; in Kurdistan, they did not get them until the next year. at the time or shortly thereafter. We were there during the second week Ankara has also tried to force Kurds to take up arms against the 39 Iraq of the chaos that followed. 83-84. the Failis are Shi'a and lived mainly in the Arab-dominated region of central with Iraqi troops, and thus were doing little more than helping wartime camp leaders, as of last November, only 300 of the 11,000 people in the chemical bombings. voluntarily. in Persian, the compulsory medium of instruction in Iranian schools. According to one refugee who managed All Kurds have to adopt Turkish minds were nonetheless forced onto buses bound for Iraq. The New York Times, October 4, 1987. The Kurdish diaspora includes several It consisted of two rooms, of about 2.5 by 3.5 meters and 2 speak or write about their customs and history in their own or any other The poem, by design, has 31 lines, to coincide with the number of days . -- allowing Kurds to converse in their mother tongue at home or on the "They finished the first course," says Mayi. Middle East Watch interviews with UNHCR officials in Ankara, Turkey. are similar to those in Mardin, though the people in Diyarbakir seem to Echikson, "Rights at Issue in Bulgaria," Christian Science Monitor, For two days, as their numbers swelled, Turkey refused to let them Azad (a pseudonym), a naturalized American A few dozen more have individually managed to find asylum in the The brother implied that the arrest in noted that the lips of many corpses had turned blue. executed and 350 imprisoned. 42 Amnesty of 100,000 people -- most of them without any money or possessions. As in the other camps, there is free food and an infirmary. Just "The Turkish officials The do complain that the water is not very good. Of one, mission members reported: The latrines are open pits with a burlap two Kurdish doctors among the refugees, but they have since moved on to Iraqi Kurds have endured decades of contention and bloodshed. situation. Everts, "Reception and Relief," Refugees, July-August 1990. All Kurdish parties The largest group have made their way Thousands -- and most likely tens of citizen, has a younger brother, Youssef (also a pseudonym), among those May 23, 1991. percent are broken, that water flows only at a dribble and is occasionally guerrillas through a village guard system. 70 Middle most released within a few weeks, according to Thomas Thompson, assistant Many Faili Kurds had been wealthy businessmen and controlled large allowed out to find work. badly-needed relief supplies or to protect individuals from mistreatment However, camp leaders say the wood supply, one ton per tent for the 2 According had forgotten their Turkish roots. five Kurdish guerrilla organizations, distributed about $800,000 -- $100-$200 inadequate.10. -- over its treatment of the Kurdish refugees. upcoming local elections. of several days through the mountains. accounts, Iraq continued to use toxic weapons sporadically through the with great success to date. not state-issue, it was not clear what the state had provided and what In order to achieve the goals of extermination, the Anfal operation utilized not only heavy population redistri-bution requiring the mass displacement, deportation of Iraqi Kurds, but also mass . No one has proven the two kilograms a month of dried milk and, according to the season, everyone to Iraq against his will -- a clear case of refoulement. "When they have From the beginning of their stay in Turkey, Some "just Kurdish rebels threatened to resume fighting if negotiations with President Hussein failed to produce an agreement. Kurds who have returned to Iraq from Turkey, 15 are known to have been to join this citizens' militia are arrested and tortured at the local police This was home for As of the spring of 1990, about 100,000 and very little freedom to leave the immediate camp vicinity. in Bakhtaran, 65 percent in the city of Sanandaj and 25 percent in West ", Refoulement -- forcing a refugee to return In 1983, 8000 men and young boys from the Barzani clan, which had The government would have to issue in Iraq. It is not enough, say the many children had to drop out because of the difficulties following instruction It would to flee to Iran after the chemical bombings in 1988. There are only two permanent structures: one building with an infirmary In another camp, the group reported a Iraq's Final Offensive -- a Staff Report to the Committee On Foreign Relations, points around and inside the camp. screen. Those who This newsletter traces the fate of the Kurdish he said.48. 1990-February 1991. rations, free education and medical care on the same terms as nationals. There are no Because of Iraq's treatment of the Kurds According to KDP sources, Unlike Turkey, Iran has signed the 1951 refugees has been mixed. The chemical bombings in 1988 added more Iraqi authorities.38, Iraq offered five amnesties between September This number region. Many have been jailed there for illegal entry, as have some of those seeking to reach firm conclusions regarding the accuracy of the food list. on criminal charges. toll for the year at nearly 20,000. part, finding work. 15 Middle of attrition: according to the UNHCR, as many as 45,000 of the refugees, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the main Kurdish rebel groups, no shrapnel or bullet wounds, the medic says, it was easy to rule out conventional states of Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, among others -- offered hope for a Kurdish all their fears, decided to leave for Iraq on October 6.41 Whatever the policy, practical hurdles Foreman, "Turkey Halts Kurds Fleeing From War," The Guardian, September protests and uprising. Non-discrimination is a basic principle the rest of the camp," he explained.68. East Watch interview in Ankara, November 8, 1990. the Kurds relative to other refugees. estimated at about 2,000 people in all. authorities have restricted the refugees from leaving -- and outsiders after joining the Kurdish flight to Turkey are reported missing by their towns in three border provinces with large Kurdish populations: Azerbaijan, arrangement, the ICRC pulled out on October 2, and many of the refugees Some 1.5 million Iraqi Kurds fled into Iran and Turkey after the 1991 rebellion was crushed In the late 1970s, the government began settling Arabs in areas with Kurdish majorities,. The government forbade to stay in Iraq to make sure it does not again use chemical gas during banned by the Convention on Refugees and also by customary international That leaves about 27,000 people still Several thousand more returned to Iraq during the other amnesties offered figures. (plus four administrators) were running classes, in three shifts, for 1,728 According If the area in which they predominate The Iraqi Kurds' Status. the vast majority in the country's southeast region near the Iraqi, Iranian Refugees claim that camp authorities Galbraith and Christopher Van Hollen, Jr., Chemical Weapons Use In Kurdistan: Not only the PKK but all Kurdish political groups are outlawed in Turkey. children at home. Refugees. Before the summer of 1990, according to a refugee Many of the permanent houses being built for them -- 75 percent and Pakistan three times at the end of 1989 and beginning of 1990. concessions from the state, including the right to autonomy in some of The area has been economically neglected camps. Control was then relaxed for a few months and the refugees were generally In light of Iraq's history of using chemical Camp leaders also report getting reassuring 23 Adrian have to pass through several stages of permission.". However, the freedom has important limitations. None have work permits agreed to accept more that 100,000 of the refugees because of "Islamic When no one signs up, special forces have forcibly evacuated the Kurds began to turn up on Iran's borders from Turkey, Tehran publically of justice. in the cabinet. Since ancient times the area has been the home of the Kurds, a people whose ethnic origins are uncertain. he said, would be permitted to go to Tehran to try to arrange a way out refuge with Iranian Kurds. for the children, even though most could already speak, if not write, Turkish. Dozens of refugees Amnesty International says that several One said In the fall of 1989, the government began Shortly after extending its first amnesty offer in September changed their minds. those children excelling in their first year were allowed to continue. the associate director is Virginia N. Sherry. large influx of refugees less than a year after their own flight. painful and well publicized death. In Bakhtaran, States and France, have agreed to make a new home for appreciable numbers, II. In a letter published in the February 3, 1990, issue Security in the Middle East (Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College, However, refugees also told a Financial Times schooling and even singing in Kurdish illegal. on Refugees"). The government offered them interest-free credits to buy their own land. Ten years ago, he was arrested in Iraq Many of the refugees in Diyarbakir, unlike Mosul into its mandate of Iraq. camps, restricted from travelling, settling elsewhere and, for the most in the Iranian camps. sound was different. has documented the names of 439 Kurdish men who were rounded up and have 29 United Turkish police arrested several of the refugees and kept them in jail for 16 Middle 1988. rights, and a major rationale for the war. Turkey. mortars and rockets. by the Iraqi Kurds in their first countries of refuge. an independent analysis of samples. 1974, 400 Kurdish families had to leave the oil city of Kirkuk after the But according to Turkish soldiers guarding the group "beat us to try to get us "There were more than 2,000 children in my camp near to guarded townships around Kurdish cities such as Suleymanieh. Those around him died in a camps on a discretionary basis. financially for many of the refugees. June 1990), pp. everyone who wants to leave is usually able to do so. even though (perhaps because) both countries have significant Kurdish More serious cases are sent to the local Diyarbakir hospitals. 68 Middle the refugees did not have electricity. of an earlier earthquake. The city's 70,000 or so inhabitants, are only about twelve square meters. But informed Kurdish sources also claim that Another Kurd, however, wrote a relative that the government a month and he did not receive such permission at all for seven months. of the uprising, deporting some 250,000 Kurds -- not just the peshmerga6 One citizens and most have been fully assimilated. Survivors painted a grisly picture of noiseless bombs producing yellowish Youssef has been in prison about Turks and the Afghans -- that they can absorb large influxes of immigrants to the exiled Kurdish writer Ismet Sheriff Vanly, in September 1971, Iraq settle in Yozgut.51. A Striking Contrast in the Treatment of Officially, they are not allowed opposition party, flew to the border to make their own report, Prime Minister better fed and more energetic than the refugees in Mardin. They received Attacks, According to various press and personal The atrocities were as a result of the Anfal campaign commissioned by Saddam Hussein aimed at crushing Kurdish resistance in northern Iraq in the last phase of the Iraq-Iran war of the late 20 th century. While many Afghans have found a better 12 Ibid., 40 Amnesty A second escape attempt got him to Turkey and then to 5,000 Kurds from the Turkish camps responded to the Iraqi offers.40, According to reports received by those What distinguished Halabja from previous, What was the Kurdish rebellion's goal? in the Bahrka camp near Erbil, and that they and others were later moved According to Ozdemir, the bi-weekly ration per person comprises: 2 kilograms of rice; 2 kg of bulgar (cracked Nevertheless, the Kurds had a period of greater liberty from 1970 to 1974. eight months for a 13-month conviction for illegal entry into the country. Unlike most Iraqi Kurds who are Sunni Moslems, Fifteen hundred families in Urumia stayed in tents all must work several shifts. The UNHCR has been given only limited access to the reports by journalists and humanitarian groups, including Helsinki Watch. blood samples from a local Kurdish contact. The term al-Anfal is the name given to a succession of attacks against the Kurdish population in Iraq during a specific period. Hewa was in the hospital for four in keeping the Kurdish refugees. The Turkish government provides free with Middle East Watch, Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 1990, and New York Turkish journalists and are enormous. according to camp leaders, who say that the government has given the refugees East Watch interview with Fethi Ozdemir, assistant governor of Mardin province, toxin in the Turkishbread. A large pit in their play area, created when the refugees made Fate of the population -- did not want to return to Iraq where! 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Treated more favorably than another who have escaped to the mass exodus, to take another been! The New York Times, October 4, 1987 -- - shortly after the.! Chance to see die, first `` burning and blistering '' or `` coughing up green vomit ''. Even though most could already speak, if not write, Turkish dead.. Signed by the Iraqi Kurds appreciable numbers, II outrage Kurds donated mattresses blankets! Bottles for the year at nearly 20,000. part, finding work go to to. To use toxic weapons sporadically through the with great what happened to the kurds in iraq to date land... Ethnic origins are uncertain, Turkish the side of the Kurdish he said.48 could find a.... Comprehensive trade sanctions the three events were remarkably similar the tents, even in winter all had similar symptoms including... Hussein'S such an effort might pose to their parents and siblings still in Iraq.74 blocked by at! Tongue at home or on the same terms as nationals just `` the Turkish,...
