The Kurds in Iraq

The Kurds in Iraq [English, London, 2004]

Irak Kürtleri [Türkçe, Istanbul, 2004]

The Kurds in Iraq [English, London, 2003]

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.

Contents 

Foreword / ix
Map of the area inhabited by Kurds / xi
Introduction / 1

Part I: The Past
1 The Kurds / 7
'Kurds' and 'Kurdistan' / 7
Language / 8
Religion / 8
Population / 9
Topography of Kurdistan / 9

2 The Treaty of Sèvres and the Creation of Iraq / 10

3 The Kurds Under Barzani / 15

Revolts / 15
The emergence of a Kurdish leader / 15
Aftermath of the 1958 Revolution / 16
The Ba'ath regimes / 17
The March Manifesto of 1970 / 17
The 1974 Autonomy Law / 20
US and Iranian involvement in Kurdish-Iraqi relations: 1970-75 / 22
The Algiers Agreement of 1975 and its aftermath / 23

4 The Anfal Campaigns / 25
Spoils of war / 25
The logic of destruction / 25
The spring offensives of 1988 / 26
The attack on Halabja / 27
The attack on Sayw Senan / 28
The remaining Anfal campaigns / 28
Amnesty / 30
International responses to the Anfal campaigns / 31
 
5 The First Gulf War: From Uprising to Democracy / 34
Background / 34
The intifada (uprising) / 34
The Ba'athists respond / 36
Exodus from Iraqi Kurdistan / 36
Turkey, Iran and the Iraqi Kurds / 37
Resolution 688 / 37
'Operation Provide Comfort' / 39
'Operation Safe Haven' / 39
Negotiating autonomy with Saddam Hussein / 42

6 Democracy in Iraqi Kurdistan / 44
A rainbow alliance / 44
International ambivalence / 44
Autonomy from a Kurdish perspective / 45
Electoral procedure / 45
A new kind of political space? / 46
Relations between the PUK and KDP / 48

7 Human Rights in Iraqi Kurdistan / 51
Background / 51
Crimes of the Ba'ath regime / 52
Breaches of international law by the government of Iraq / 54
Humanitarian law / 55
Human rights structures and the Kurdish authorities / 57
Women's rights in Iraqi Kurdistan / 57

8 The Internally Displaced of Iraqi Kurdistan / 62
A displaced history / 62
Displacement since the establishment of the safe haven / 64

9 Economic/Humanitarian Affairs in Iraqi Kurdistan / 67
Background / 67
Oil in Iraq: A brief overview / 68
Oil in Iraqi Kurdistan: A brief overview / 69
Pipelines / 69
Sanctions / 70
Criticism of the Oil-for-Food Programme / 72
Embargo / 74
Currency / 75
Employment / 75
Non-governmental organisations / 75
 
10 The Kurds Have no Friends but the Mountains / 78
Turkey: A difficult neighbour / 78
Beyond Iraq: The Kurds of Turkey, Iran and Syria / 81
11 US Foreign Policy Towards Saddam: Pre-September 11 / 89

Part II: The Present

12 The Road to War / 93
`Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists' / 93
The Kurds' path to war / 103

13 The Second Gulf War: 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' / 109
`They were received with bombs, shoes and bullets' / 109
The Kurdish Jerusalem / 110
War over? / 113
The current security situation / 113
Security strategy / 115

14 Current Executive Structure in Iraq / 116
Saddam's Iraqi opposition / 116
Political reconstruction / 117

15 Current Legal and Human Rights Issues / 122
The Coalition Provisional Authority / 122
Humanitarian international law obligations / 122
International human rights law obligations / 124

16 The Question of Autonomy / 129

17 The Anfal Campaigns: The War Crimes Tribunal 130
An enduring legacy / 130
The Iraqi Special Tribunal / 131
The defendants / 132
The death penalty / 133
International judges / 133
The crimes / 134

18 The Internally Displaced: The Current Situation / 137
General situation / 137
The Takiyeh camp / 137
The Anfal camp at Suresh / 138
The UN-HABITAT camp at Bazian / 139
The problem of mines / 140
Reversing the 'Arabisation' programme / 140

19 Current Economic/Humanitarian Issues in Iraqi Kurdistan / 142
Sanctions and embargoes / 142
The Oil-for-Food Programme / 142
Currency / 143
Non-governmental organisations and international organisations / 144
Oil / 145

Part III: The Future

20 Self-Determination and Autonomy / 151
What is self-determination? / 151
The Kurdish daim to self-determination / 154
Autonomy / 157
A UN mandate? / 159
Economic issues / 161

21 The Tribunal and the Victims / 163
Introduction / 163
A UN tribunal / 163
A hybrid court / 164
The International Criminal Court / 165
A Truth and Reconciliation Commission / 165
The way forward / 166

22 The Land Question / 168
The Iraqi Property Reconciliation Facility / 168
The way forward / 169

Addendum / 172

Appendix I: Articles of the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres relating to Kurdistan / 173
Appendix II: The Kurdistan Regional Government Provisional Constitution for the Federal Republic of Iraq / 175
Appendix III: UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement / 190

Notes  / 201

Index / 233

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.

The Kurds in Iraq
The Past, Present and Future

Kerim Yildiz
Pluto 41b Press
LONDON • ANN ARBOR, MI
in association with
KURDISH HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT
 
First published 2004 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

www.plutobooks.com Copyright © Kerim Yildiz 2004

The right of Kerim Yildiz to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7453 2229 8 hardback ISBN 0 7453 2228 X paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by
Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by
Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England

KERIM YILDIZ is the Executive Director of Kurdish Human Rights Project, an independent nonpolitical human rights organisation founded in London in 1992. Himself a Kurdish refugee, he has written extensively on issues of human rights, minority rights and international law.