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The Experience of Second- Generation Iraqi Kurd

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The Experience of Second- Generation Iraqi Kurd ‘HOME’ AND ‘RETURN’ – THE EXPERIENCE OF SECOND- GENERATION IRAQI KURD RETERNEES TO KURDISTAN REGIONAL GOVERNMENT (KRG) Juan Ameen University of East London September 2018 1 Abstract! This research focuses on the experiences of migrants who have ‘returned’ to the Kurdish regions of Iraq from neighbouring countries and Europe. It addresses key issues in the field of Refugee Studies, including concepts of return, understandings of home and negotiations of identity and belonging among second generation Iraqi Kurdish returnees. Scholars and researchers have often used these terms loosely and sometimes interchangeably: critical analysis informed by this research suggests that they are related but are also distinct and specific. The second-generation Iraqi Kurds taking part in the study belong to the generation of migrants who were born in diaspora countries or moved to diaspora in their early childhood from the region of Iraqi Kurdistan. These second-generation migrants have a different understanding of ‘home’ to their parents. Their upbringing in diaspora countries and transnational links to ‘homeland’ create a tension between their constructions of ‘home’ and ‘belonging’. The empirical data for this study is based upon an in-depth qualitative study of the experiences of 20 Iraqi Kurd returnees in Kurdistan, most of whom were neither born nor grew up in the KRG region, and had little or no previous experience of their ‘homeland’. Interview themes involved home, transnational ties and attachments, identity and belonging. I propose that second-generation migrants are motivated to ‘return’ because of a strong sense of belonging and a need for identity in relation to a familial and/or ancestral ‘home’. Analysing in detail the life-narratives of second-generation returnees, the research identifies multifaceted perspectives in which notions of ‘return’, ‘home’, ‘identity’ and ‘belonging’ are relevant in recent Kurdish experience. It proposes that diasporic links and networks, and earlier experiences outside the KRG, play a key role in shaping aspirations, expectations and experiences in Kurdistan. 2 The findings from this research suggest that the factors motivating Kurdish returnee migration back to Kurdistan are sophisticated. Certainly, the analysis of my data indicates that for the second generation who have taken the decision to return to KRG region, this migration is facilitated through the social relationships and resources which are generated and sustained through their family networks. It is these family networks which make the difference between the dream or intention to return and the actual reality of doing so. The findings explain that family narratives are vital factors of the second generation’s ‘home’ constructions. However, the return experiences show that their ‘imagined home’ and ‘reality’ do not always match. The KRG region, more often referred to as homeland, is very central in respondents’ narratives. What is most noticeable for the second-generation Iraqi Kurds is that while homeland is very significant for them, no given homeland exists. The homeland is therefore an ambiguous, vague and ambivalent conception. It is mostly about a subjective feeling and individual and political constructions based on lived experiences, collective memory and history and political discourses. For them ‘home’ is a space that exceeds several territorial borders and several nation-states. The meaning of identity, home(land) and belonging for second-generation Iraqi Kurds is more situational, ambivalent and flexible. Keywords: History of Kurdistan, second generation, return, home, identity, belonging, transnationalism, life narratives ! ! ! 3 Acknowledgements The five years I spent working on this thesis have been some of the most exciting and difficult years of my life. I decided to start a PhD about second-generation Iraqi Kurdish returnees to explore conventional perceptions, but the things I learned have challenged me and pushed me to be more self-critical. Looking back, I feel blessed that I was given this opportunity. At the end of these five years I am completely a different person. This thesis would not have been possible without motivation from abundant colleagues, friends and family members and practical and emotional support. Unfortunately, I cannot mention all of these wonderful people, both those I have had the fortune of coming across in the last five years and those with whom I have been acquainted for a longer time. Nevertheless, I would like to thank some of them here, however briefly. I wish to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all those who enabled me to undertake this thesis. Without their help and efforts, I wouldn’t have reached the standard required. I am highly indebted and would like to convey my sincerest appreciation to the Institution who awarded me this scholarship – the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The University of Sulaimani is the reason why I’m standing here in the first place and I sincerely thank them as they understood my capabilities and believed that I deserved a chance at this endeavour; for that, I have not enough words to convey how I feel. I extend my warm gratitude to the University of East London who permitted me to work on this thesis and helped me complete successfully by extending me all the necessities I required. I realize and recognize various hands that have helped me in in numerous ways, and I thank them all sincerely. 4 I profoundly express my extreme and esteemed gratitude to my supervisors Giorgia Dona and Philip Marfleet, who were highly instrumental in the successful completion of my thesis. Without their help and guidance, this project would have been nowhere near what it is today. I also want to thank them for enduring the troubles I put them through and to clarifying the doubts I had. I wish to thank all staff members of the department for their constant help and well wishes for the execution of this thesis. Special thanks to the librarian Paul who waited for me patiently to collect the necessities I required even when it was time to close the library. I am incredibly grateful. I extend eternal gratitude to my friends and family who always extended their most essential and valuable support towards me accomplishing this project successfully. And special thanks to those friends who gave me constant feedback as to how I could improve my work. I extend my heartfelt and esteemed gratitude to the participants in my research who had the patience to answer my questions with the utmost sincerity, which greatly helped me to find the missing pieces of my thesis. Last but not least I extend warm greetings to my editor Helen Taylor, who was a huge help editing my thesis with utmost patience and helping me complete my work successfully. ! ! 5 Contents Abstract – 2 Acknowledgements – 4 1. Introduction – 9 1.1 Research Context – 16 1.2 The term ‘second-generation’ – 17 1.3 Research questions – 19 1.4 Research Background – 20 1.5 Summary of the Thesis Structure – 22 2. History of Iraqi Kurdistan – 25 2.1 Kurdish History – 24 2.2 Diplomatic Struggle for a state: - Kurds and the international community in the 20th century – 29 2.3 State Conflict over decade between the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish National Movement – 32! 2.4 Major Political Organizations and Activities- Kurds during and after Monarchy in Iraq – 39 2.5 The Displacement of Kurds in Iraq and Turkey – 44 2.6 The brutal regime of Saddam Hussein (Al-Anfal Campaigns) – 51 2.7 The brutal regime of Saddam Hussein (Halabja Massacre) – 55 2.8 The Kurdish Regional Government – 57 2.9 The Role of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq – 60 2.10 The Iraqi-Kurdish referendum: Revealing the desire for Independence – 62 2.11 The Present Region of Iraqi Kurdistan – 66 3. Literature Review – 67 3.1 Social and cultural capital – 67 3.2 Theories of return – 71 3.2.1 Return from an economic perspective – 79 6 3.2.2 Emotional reasons – 79 3.2.3 Epidemic outbreak – 80 3.2.4 Political reasons – 81 3.2.5 Family reasons – 81 3.2.6 Career failure – 82 3.3 ’Home’ and ‘Belonging’ – The generational dynamic – 82 3.3.1 The notion of home, homeland and place – 82 3.3.2 Problematizing the notion of ‘belonging’ and ‘home’ – 90 3.3.3 Sense of belonging and the politics of belonging – 91 3.3.4 ’Home’ and ‘belonging’ for second-generation migrants – 94 3.4 The Concept of identity – 98 3.4.1 Defining the term identity – 98 3.4.2 Identity and translocational positionality as a theoretical context – 103 3.4.3 Reconsidering transnationalism through the second generation – 106 4. Methodology – 113 4.1 Introduction – 113 4.2 Narrative methodology – 114 4.3 Rationale for narrative methodology – 117 4.3.1 Relations between cultural and personal narratives – 119 4.3.2 The role narrativity played in analysis – 120 4.3.3 The research topic’s intimate character – 121 4.4 Practical considerations of the research framework – 122 4.4.1 Sample selection – 124 4.5 Data collection – 127 4.5.1 Interviews – 127 4.5.2 Narrative interviews – 131 4.5.3 Narrative interview process – 134 4.5.4 Data collection limitations – 136 4.6 Coding and data analysis procedures – 138 4.7 Validation and representation – 140 4.8 Ethics and ethical considerations – 143 4.9 Positionality and reflexivity – 145 7 4.10 Summary – 146 5. Research findings and analysis 148 5.1 Narratives of return – 148 5.2 Motivation for return – 152 5.2.1 Family and social relations – 152 5.2.2 Political factors – 155 5.2.3 Hostility and discrimination in a foreign land – 158 5.2.4 Patriotism and nationalism – 163 5.2.5 Social and economic capital of return – 167 5.3 Construction of ‘Home’ and ‘Belonging’ – 170 5.3.1 Kurdistan is home, belong to Kurdistan – 173 5.3.2 Multiple homes – 179 5.3.3 Non-Kurdistan belonging – 182 5.4 The concept of identity – 185 5.4.1 Kurdish identity – 186 5.4.2 Mixed/double identity – 190 5.4.3 Personal /unaffiliated identity – 195 5.4.4 Transnational identity – 197 5.4.5 The passing of intergenerational identities – 200 6.
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