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The Kurds in Iraq


Auteur :
Éditeur : Pluto Press Date & Lieu : 2004-01-01, London
Préface : Pages : 238
Traduction : ISBN : 0-7453-2229-8
Langue : AnglaisFormat : 135x215 mm
Code FIKP : Liv. Eng. 2900Thème : Politique

Présentation
Table des Matières Introduction Identité PDF
The Kurds in Iraq

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The Kurds in Iraq. The Past, Present and Future

Today there are an estimated 4.2 million Kurds in Iraq — nearly a quarter of the country's population. The majority are Sunni Muslims. For a long time Iraqi Kurds have desired an independent Kurdistan — a desire shared by Kurds in Turkey, Iran and Syria.

This book explores the issues facing the Kurdish population of Iraq in the aftermath of the war and chaos of the occupation. It is the most clear and up-to-date account of what Iraqi Kurds want, and the problems that all political groups face in re-building the country, as well as exploring Kurdish links and international relations in the broader sense. It should be required reading for policy-makers and anyone interested in the current position of Kurds in Iraq.

Yildiz explores the impact of war and occupation on the Kurdish community in Iraq, and in particular the crucial role of the city of Kirkuk in the post-war seulement. He also looks at how

UN rifts potentially affect the Kurds; relations between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey; relations with Iran; and US policy towards the Kurds.


Foreword
 
With the demise of the rule of the Ba'ath party in Iraq, the country's Kurdish population faces a new chapter in the political and regional development of its region. For over a century the Kurds have been subject to the grand schemes of other powers, denied autonomy, and have faced the onslaughts of military assaults, economic embargoes, and the destruction of their native regions.

This publication is intended to provide an outline of some of the issues affecting the Kurds in Iraq. It provides a brief exploration of the past's effect on the present, and of how both the Kurds and the international community may avoid repeating previous mistakes, laying the foundations for an internationally recognised autonomous region committed to pluralistic democracy and human rights. Such a region would require a commitment to the rule of law and internationally recognised human rights standards.

In the intervening years between the First Gulf War and the 2003 US-led war against Saddam, the Kurds established a democratic administration, which has persevered despite a lack of assistance from the international community to facilitate its establishment or indeed any international recognition. Iraqi Kurdistan serves as a role model not only for Iraq but also for the rest of the Middle East, particularly with regard to adherence to human rights principles, including women's rights and freedom of expression. The study proposes that the Kurds should continue to have full and equal participation in the reconstruction of Iraq. The study also details a range of human rights policies to the Occupying Powers, the international community and the Kurds themselves. The publication highlights the international initiatives possible to ensure the economic and social development of Iraqi Kurdistan, including equitable distribution of the revenues of oil and the Oil-for-Food Programme.

This publication provides a scholarly analysis of the urgent and as of yet unanswered question: what is to be the future of the Iraqi Kurdistan bearing in mind what was achieved after the First Gulf War in 1992? In BHRC's view, unless the rule of law is quickly established throughout post-war Iraq, the future of the whole region remains bleak.

The research and writing of this publication was undertaken by Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project. The advice and assistance of KHRP staff members and other experts is gratefully acknowledged, including that of Tom Blass, freelance journalist and researcher, Clodaghmuire Callinan and Rochelle Harris. This publication was made possible by the financial support of the Sigrid Rausing Trust.

Mark Muller
Vice President,
Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales


Introduction

Since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, the Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan have made significant achievements in securing their rights, perhaps signalling a milestone towards a new culture of human rights in the Middle East. Nonetheless, the Kurds have faced enduring hardship over the past century, including military attacks, economic embargoes, human rights violations and the destruction of their native regions.

Some of the landmarks in the history of Iraqi Kurdistan — perhaps most notably the chemical and gas attacks at Halabja, the 1991 uprising and the subsequent flight of over 2 million refugees — have been so egregious as to have become imprinted on the consciousness, and sometimes conscience, of the outside world. Other events are less well known and less well understood: such as US and Iranian involvement in Iraqi Kurdistan in the 1970s, Turkish intervention, the nascent democracy of the autonomous area and the double embargo effect of Saddam Hussein's economic siege and United Nations (UN) sanctions. This publication is intended to provide an outline of some of the issues affecting the Kurds in Iraq. It provides a brief exploration of past history's effect on the present, and of how both the Kurds and the international community may avoid repeating previous mistakes, laying the foundations for an autonomous region committed to a pluralistic democracy and human rights.

There are no exact ethnological or linguistic criteria by which the Kurds can be defined. There are a number of Kurdish dialects. There is no single religion that binds them, and they are to be found in numerous countries. Paraphrasing Benedict Anderson, one might say that Kurds are those that believe themselves to be so.1 Kurdish identity, however, is not monolithic. While some Kurds believe passionately in the existence of a pan-Kurdish nation, others are bound more closely to other identities; tribal, national or religious.

Standing at the crossroads of so many powerful nations, the Kurds have always, inadvertently or otherwise, been subject to or caught up in the vicissitudes of their allegiances and altercations. This publication looks at the ways in which the Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan have been subjected to sustained violence and oppression by several Iraqi regimes. This is not unique to Iraq. In Turkey, as in Iran, Syria and the former Soviet Union, Kurds have been the victims of village destructions and evacuations, killings, torture, rape in custody, arbitrary detentions, censorship and other human rights violations. On several occasions, governments — the outlooks of which are otherwise opposed — have sought to collaborate in their efforts to suppress the Kurds.

Behind the pattern of victimisation lies the fear of the Kurds breaking away from the states in which they live to create their own nation. The dream of an independent Kurdistan is not universally perceived in the same way. Some regard it as a dream, perhaps realisable in generations to corne, but unfeasible for the moment. Others regard the right to self-determination as a fundamental right guaranteed inter alia by the UN Charter. It is little surprise that anti- secessionist measures taken by some states have had a tendency to alienate Kurds, fuelling a radicalism which might not otherwise carry itself with such fervour.

This publication was written with the purpose of introducing the Kurds to a readership in some cases newly wakened to their existence by media reports arising out of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Much of the research was undertaken in London.

In August 2003, a KHRP fact-finding mission to Iraqi Kurdistan arrived soon after the bombing of the UN building in Baghdad, which had severely dented the morale of international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NG0s).2 Many expatriate staff were leaving or had left Iraq. Still others were arriving in the comparatively safe north from the nation's capital. The sense of post- liberation jubilation was muted. The Kurds living above the 'green line' separating `Saddam' Iraq from 'Kurdish' Iraq had been 'free', with all the qualifications and hardships that that entailed for over ten years. The end of the war had brought new forms of relief. Many were visiting family members in Mosul and Kirkuk for the first time in years. As one man in Erbil described, 'For twelve years we've lived with Saddam's guns trained on us just across the border; just knowing they've gone means we can breathe more easily.'3

The end of Saddam's rule also brought with it disappointments. Many families still clung to the hope that when the Ba`athists fell, mothers, fathers, children and siblings that had disappeared years before would reappear.4 With the passage of time and the continuing discovery of mass graves around the country, those hopes are fading and some are grieving for the second time. Others, living in impoverished conditions and without access to the wealth and luxuries visible in bazaars and shops, decry the inability of the international community and of their own government to improve their condition overnight.

The political climate, and its tensions created by the rights or wrongs of the war, has constituted an interesting backdrop against which to write about the Kurds in Iraq. The question as to whether war was 'justified' created unlikely allies and unlikely foes. The arguments for and against seemed to be at odds with any clearly definable ideological Fines. The new front created in the battle for ideas concerns the respective roles of the UN and the US-led administration. In all these issues, the Iraqi Kurds sided more closely with the hawks of the US than the doves of 'Old Europe' or the UN. Their perspective did not necessarily vindicate the decision to go to war. Only time will tell what effect the end of Ba'athism has had on Iraq. Many Kurds are disenchanted with the provisions of multilateralism, being better disposed toward any potential ally promising action over deliberation. Kurds will admit that circumstance has often forced them into choosing their friends before fully considering the wisdom of having done so. For the first time in their history, however, the Kurds may have backed the winning horse.




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