The Kurds and Kurdistan

Kurds in Iraq

Iraq’s 4 million Kurds have suffered severe repression in recent years. There have been numerous revolutions since the proclamation of Iraq as a monarch in the late 20’s and as a republic in 1958.  The worst human rights abuses have been committed against the Kurds during the Baath Party’s rule in Iraq under the leadership of Saddam Hussein. 

During the notorious Anfal Campaign of 1988, the Iraqi regime carried out large-scale deportations, arrests, kidnappings and bombardment of Kurdish villages with chemical weapons.  It is estimated that at least as many as 180,000 men, women and children have been executed and buried in mass collective graves.  The adoption of resolution 688 by the United Nations and the operation of the “safe havens” policy have brought significant improvement for the Iraqi Kurdish people. They continue to live under continual threat of bombardment from the Iraqi government and the invasion of Turkish forces into the no-fly zone..

Elections in Kurdistan

On May 9, 1992, the citizens of the Kurdish- controlled area of Iraqi Kurdistan voted to elect a 105-seat National Assembly and Leader of the Kurdistan Liberation Movement.  While thirteen parties contested the elections, the balloting was primarily a contest between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) led by Jalal Talabani.   The elections were organized by the Kurdistan Front in a unique and tenuous political and territorial context.  The Front, a coalition of seven political parties of Iraqi Kurdistan created in 1988, had functioned as the de facto governmental authority in the region since the withdrawal of the Iraqi authorities in October 1991.  The stated purpose of electing a National Assembly and a leader for the Kurdish-controlled regions was to fill the legal and administrative vacuum left by the withdrawal of the Iraqi government, and to facilitate a negotiated settlement for self-government within Iraq by organizing a democratically elected body to represent Kurdish interests.  Dr. Pary Karadaghi, Executive Director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch, acted as a consultant to the International Human Rights Law Group delegation and monitored the 1992 election in Kurdistan.

Human Rights Abuses

The situation in Iraqi Kurdistan is still very fragile.  Four million Kurds living in the three major governorates in Arbil, Sulaimanya and Duhok are protected by the no-fly zone of Allied air forces flying over the 36 parallel.  A local Kurdish government has been running the de facto government since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.  The Kurds have enjoyed a level of freedom that they have never experienced before.  It is hard to imagine life to return to be administratively under the control of the central government.  Mostly to be under the rule of Saddam Hussein. 

However, Kurds living in Kirkuk, Mendali, Khanaqin, Mosul and other areas are not so lucky.  Ethnic cleansing in the cities of Kirkuk, Mendali, Khanaqin, Mosul and the villages surrounding those cities are carried out systematically against the Kurdish population.  The Iraqi government is preparing for a census and the intentions are to change the cultural and ethnic composition of these cities.  Homeowners are ordered to leave their belongings and homes and leave the region.  They are given two choices, to leave for a city in the South of Iraq or to leave to the Kurdish controlled region.