THE KURDS OF IRAQ: RECENT HISTORY, FUTURE PROSPECTS By Carole A. O’Leary*
This article briefly recounts the developing situation of Iraqi Kurds over the last decade and discusses what the future of this group might be like in a post-Saddam Iraq. It explores the option of a federal system in which a division of powers between the central government and north would provide a way for effective regional government will ensuring the state's unity. A workable, acceptable solution to the Kurdish problem would be absolutely necessary for the future stability of Iraq. The article also looks at how the decade-long experience of Kurdish self-rule in a democratic framework affects the debate over Iraq's future. The article concludes with a chronology of modern Kurdish history.
The Kurds, an Iranian ethno-linguistic Turkomans, Arabs, and Armenians are also group--like Persians, Lurs, Baluch and found in Iraqi Kurdistan. In Iraq there are Bakhtiari,--inhabit the mostly mountainous approximately 3.7 million Kurds in the area where the borders of Turkey, Iran, predominantly Kurdish northern safe haven Iraq, and Syria converge. Following World area, and between 1 and 2 million in the War I and the breakup of the Ottoman rest of Iraq, particularly Baghdad, Mosul Empire, the Kurds were promised their and that part of Iraqi Kurdistan still under own country under the terms of the 1920 the control of the Baghdad regime.(1) Treaty of Sevres only to find the offer The majority of Kurds are Sunni rescinded under the 1923 Treaty of Muslims. There are also Shi’a and Yezidi Lausanne. Numbering at least 25 million Kurds, as well as Christians who identify people, Kurds are mostly divided among themselves as Kurds. Yezidis are Kurds Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. The main area who follow a religion that combines they inhabit is about 230,000 square miles, indigenous pre-Islamic and Islamic equal to German and Britain combined. traditions. The once thriving Jewish The Kurds are the largest ethnic group in Kurdish community in Iraq now consists of the world without a state. The term a few families in the Kurdish safe haven. "Kurdistan" is widely used in Iraq to refer Since the creation of the modern state of to the Kurdish area of northern Iraq and in Iraq, the history of Iraqi Kurdistan has been Iran to refer to the Kurdish area of one of underdevelopment, political and northwest Iran. Turkey and Syria, cultural repression, destruction, ethnic however, avoid this term for political cleansing and genocide.(2) Al-Anfal (The reasons, although under the Ottomans it Spoils) was the codename given to an was widely used. aggressive, planned, military operation The area of northern Iraq where Kurds against Iraqi Kurds. It was part of an predominate, is a region of about 83,000 ongoing, larger campaign against Kurds square kilometers. This is roughly the same because of their struggle to gain autonomy size as Austria. Smaller ethno-linguistic within the Republic of Iraq. Anfal took communities of Assyrian-Chaldeans, place during 1988 under the direction of
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Ali Hasan al-Majid, Saddam Hussein's 1963 and culminated in the Anfal cousin. He became known as "Chemical operation, it is estimated that more than Ali" because of his use of chemical and 4,000 villages in rural Kurdistan were biological weapons on Kurdish towns and destroyed and perhaps 300,000 people villages. perished. The broad purpose of the campaign was The best-known chemical attack to eliminate resistance by the Kurds by any occurred at Halabja in March 1988. This means necessary. Its specific aim was to town is located in the mountains near cleanse the region of "saboteurs"--who Sulaimaniya, about 11 kilometers from the included all males between the ages of 15 Iranian border. Between 40,000 and and 70. Mass executions were carried out 50,000 people were living there at the time. in the targeted villages and surrounding The Iranian army had previously pushed areas. The operation was carefully planned Iraqi forces out of the area. During three and included identifying villages in rebel days, the town and surrounding district held areas, declaring these villages and were attacked with conventional bombs, surrounding areas "prohibited" and artillery fire, and chemicals--including authorizing the killing of any person or mustard gas and nerve agents (Sarin, animal found in these areas. Tabun, and VX). At least 5,000 people died Economic blockades were put onto immediately as a result of the chemical these villages to cut them off from all attack and it is estimated that up to 12,000 support. The army also planned for the people died during those three days. evacuation of them and the inhabitants' Almost fifteen years later, there is still relocation to reservation-like collective not much known about the impact of these towns. People who refused to leave were agents on the people and environment. Dr. often shot. In some cases, people who Christine Gosden, a professor of Medical agreed to leave were gathered up and Genetics at the University of Liverpool, separated, with men from 15 to 70 in one working with the Washington Kurdish group; women, children, and elderly men Institute (WKI), helped establish the in another. Many of the men were Halabja Post-Graduate Medical Institute to executed while the others were removed to understand the impact of weapons of mass the collective towns or to camps in the destruction on civilian populations. It south of Iraq. offers both research and medical help for During the Anfal operation, some 1,200 thousands of survivors living in the area.(3) villages were destroyed. More than The Kurds' first-hand experience with such 180,000 persons are missing and presumed attacks has prompted their request to the dead. While the Iraqi government was international community for protection motivated partly by the fact that some from this type of weapons in the event of Kurdish groups cooperated with Iran U.S.-led military action against Iraq. during the Iran-Iraq war, documentation In April 1991, following the March recovered in the Kurdish safe haven in uprising of Kurds in the north and Shi’a 1991 reveals that this operation was part of Arabs in the south against the central a larger campaign undertaken by Saddam government, Iraqi Kurdistan was divided throughout his time in power. Many now into two parts. Relying on UN Security regard this operation as proof of genocide Council Resolution 688, military forces against Iraqi Kurds. In all phases of the from eleven countries, including the United ethnic cleansing program, which began States and Turkey, implemented Operation when the Baath Party first seized power in Provide Comfort to give security and
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humanitarian assistance to refugees in in two separate parts, each by one of the camps along the Iraq-Turkey border. The two main parties (KDP and PUK). Efforts so-called Kurdish safe haven and northern have been on-going to find how to no-fly zone were established in this integrate the two administrations. context. Under considerable constraint and Despite this disappointment, there have against strong external and internal been some more positive developments. opposition, the Kurdish safe haven has Free and fair local elections, under been successfully governed for a decade by international observation, were conducted the Kurds themselves. This part of Iraqi in dozens of municipalities in 2000 and Kurdistan is roughly 40,000 square 2001 in the KDP and PUK areas. For the kilometers, or about half of Iraqi first time since 1994, the KNA convened in Kurdistan.(4) The rest continues to be its entirety in Erbil on October 4, 2002. directly governed by Baghdad. The reconvening of the KNA is a clear In October 1991, the Government of indication of the growing cooperation Iraq (GOI) voluntarily withdrew its civil between the KDP and PUK, particularly in administration and the citizens of the their dealings with the Bush administration Kurdish safe haven were left to govern and U.S. Congress, as well as with states in themselves. Elections were held in May the region and Europe. In particular, the 1992 and the Kurdistan National Assembly KDP and PUK are unified in asserting the (KNA) and the Kurdistan Regional Kurdish right to self-determination in a Government (KRG) were created. The future democratic Iraq in which they call Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the for Iraqi Kurdistan entering into a federal Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) relationship with the central government entered into an equal power-sharing under a new constitutional arrangement. arrangement, with 5 of the 105 KNA seats The Kurdish safe haven is now a allocated to members of the Assyrian- decade-old example of what can happen Chaldean Christian community. throughout the rest of Iraq. The liberated Turkomans boycotted the election, part of Iraqi Kurdistan has become a refuge although efforts were made to include for all Iraqis seeking freedom and representatives from all ethnic and democracy. Since 1991, thousands of Iraqi religious communities. refugees in Iran have returned. And since Participatory processes were instituted 1991, thousands more Iraqis from central to develop experience with the or southern Iraq have sought asylum. Even requirements, and systems and procedures more striking, some families who fled Iraq of democracy. These elections were over 20 years ago, and who became deemed to have been free and fair by citizens of the United States and European international observers.(5) Regional countries, elected to return since 1991. governance has been based on the March Despite various internal difficulties and 1970 Autonomy Agreement with the GOI. constraints, including the strong opposition Four provinces were established, each of neighboring countries and both external headed by a governor. and internal embargoes on the region by The regional government, headed by a the Iraqi government, all basic public prime minister with a cabinet of ministers, services have been provided to the extent was established in the regional capital of resources have permitted. Freedom of Erbil. But the 50-50 power-sharing speech and of free movement is respected. arrangement broke down within two years. Local NGOs have been established and the Today, the Kurdish safe haven is governed three universities are working with U.S.
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and European partners to develop new freedom and tenuous well-being. The academic programs, reform and update future of Iraqi Kurdistan remains most curricula, and provide faculty training uncertain. opportunities. The region's leadership has allowed satellite television with over 500 POST-SADDAM IRAQ AND channels to be available to anyone who can FEDERAL ARRANGEMENTS purchase readily available hardware. One extremely important consequence Private companies provide uncensored of the Kurdish safe haven’s existence is international phone service. Unlimited and that some 3.7 million Iraqis—a uncensored Internet access is also available considerable portion of the country’s from private, independent sources. population—have actual experience with According to Human Rights Watch, the self-rule, civil rights, and a transition to leadership of the region has made notable democracy.(7) How would this situation progress in promoting and protecting the interact with the rest of the Iraq if it were to basic rights of the people of liberated Iraqi be freed from the current regime? Kurdistan.(6) Certainly, those in the safe haven are With assistance from the international greatly concerned about the effects of war community, hundreds of destroyed and regime change in Iraq, in terms of the communities were reconstructed and tens threat posed by the war, a possibly unstable of thousands of families were able to return aftermath, and their future status in a new to their original homes between 1991 and Iraq. There is strong support in the U.S. 1997. Despite serious problems due to government, Iraqi opposition movements— inefficiency, intransigence and the efforts ranging from the Iraq National Congress of Baghdad, the oil-for-food (SCR-986) (INC) through the Supreme Council for program that began functioning in 1997 Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and continues to provide the region with Kurdish groups—for a federalist structure substantial resources from Iraq's public oil in the country.(8) wealth for health care, reconstruction and Iraqis in exile and those lucky enough to education. The KRG directly cooperates live inside the Kurdish safe haven are with twelve UN agencies in the region, currently debating the framework for a including nine involved in the management federal state. Some advocate a federal of the oil-for-food program. system consisting of two political units: the The history of Iraqi Kurdistan before Arab region and Kurdistan. Others have 1991 is the history of destruction and suggested dividing Iraq into three federal displacement. More than 4,000 units: Kurdistan, a Sunni Arab center and a communities were destroyed including Shi’a Arab south. An arrangement of five towns of more than 50,000 Iraqi citizens. federal units (Kurdistan, Baghdad, Jazirah, Hundreds of thousands of citizens were Kufa and Basra) has also been detained and killed. Tens of thousands suggested.(9) Iraq’s Kurds would support were forced to live in Baghdad-controlled the division of Iraq into any number of "collective towns.” Many were injured in federal units, under a federal system, as years of warfare. Despite their long as Iraqi Kurdistan itself constitutes achievements in democratization and civil one of those federal units. society building since 1991, the citizens of At a recent conference hosted by the Iraqi Kurdistan continue to be threatened University of Southern Denmark, Brendan by Baghdad and the neighboring states in a O’Leary outlined an interesting alternative manner that jeopardizes their hard-won to the adoption of a federal political system
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for all of Iraq.(10) In his view, Iraqi how they will choose to do so. My field Kurdistan could enter into an work in the area (see below) shows some institutionalized federal arrangement with important trends relative to this issue. the central government wherein the rest of Federalism refers to a system of Iraq is not federally organized. He refers government in which power is divided to this arrangement as federacy. In theory, between a central authority and constituent this model could accommodate the Arab political units which have a fair degree of majority in Iraq if system-wide federalism local power, including the ability to raise is voted down in a referendum. It is taxes and a militia, for example. In some possible, indeed likely, that the Kurds multi-cultural states like Switzerland, the would have no objection to the creation of constituent political units are defined not a democratic Iraq that is not federally only geographically but also culturally on organized, as long as Iraqi Kurdistan itself the basis of language, ethnicity, religion or achieves self-rule in a constitutionally tribe. Federalism as an organizing mandated federal arrangement with the structure for governance can promote center. stability in multi-ethnic or multi-religious There is, however, a subtle but states through the establishment of political important distinction in how the federalist units whose relationship to the center is concept might be applied. The Kurds have defined in a constitution that provides tended to favor an explicitly Kurdish self- written principles concerning structures governing portion of Iraq. Another option and rules for governance and appropriation would be a northern self-governing section of federal funds. (or several such divisions) which are As in the United States, federalism in a organized on a regional but not ethnic future Iraq can provide a system of checks basis. Most Kurds seem to favor the former and balances to moderate the power of any approach, while most American officials future central government, inhibiting the favor the latter approach as a way to reduce ability of an autocratic leadership– ethnic tension in a post-Saddam Iraq. secularist or Islamist–to seize control of the Further, Kurds explicitly have opposed the center. And, as in Switzerland, federalism division of historic Iraqi Kurdistan into can guarantee the political and cultural multiple federal units, an idea which has rights of Iraq’s ethno-linguistic and currency among some American religious communities. analysts.(11) The creation of a constitutionally Under what might be called a mandated federal relationship between “Kurdistani” rather than “Kurdish” Iraqi Kurdistan and a post-Saddam Hussein political solution, a Kurdish majority central government is the only solution that would still control a geographically defined will address the legitimate right to self- northern state within an Iraqi federalist determination of Iraq’s Kurdish community system. Still, that type of structure would in the context of a unified Iraqi state. reduce Turkish objections while also Absent a just and lasting resolution to the preserving the rights of non-Kurdish Kurdish question in Iraq, it will prove minorities, especially Turkomans, in the impossible to achieve stability in a post- area, who would be less enthusiastic about Saddam Hussein state.(12) Equally, an a Kurdish ethnic entity. But would the unstable post-Saddam Hussein Iraq would Kurds find such a plan acceptable? The be unlikely to pursue democratization – a issue is not just whether the Kurds will stated goal of the Bush administration. exercise a right to self-determination but In theory, the establishment of a federal
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system of governance that includes power- was predominately Kurdish, but successive sharing at the center and self-governance Iraqi governments have pursued a policy of for Iraqi Kurdistan is a model that will ethnic cleansing in Kirkuk, directed first work well in Iraq. In practice, the challenge against the Kurds and later against the is to achieve internal, regional and Turkoman as well.(16) international support for the self- The proposed constitution for a determination of Iraq’s Kurdish community Kurdistan political unit in a federal Iraq, in a federal and democratic Iraq. drafted by the KDP and PUK and currently under review by the recently reunified THE ROLE OF TURKEY Kurdistan National Assembly does call for A key concern for the Kurds, as well as the inclusion of Kirkuk in a future the Bush Administration, is Turkey's Kurdistan federal political unit. However, evolving position on federalism and the the draft constitution is clear in ceding Kurdish question in Iraq.(13) Turkey has control of Kirkuk’s oil to the new central consistently opposed the creation of an government and in recognizing the fact that independent Kurdish state in Iraq Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city inhabited by Kurdistan. However, Turkey has also Kurds, Arabs, Turkomans and Assyrians. raised concerns about the establishment of The draft constitution calls for regularly a federal arrangement between Iraqi scheduled mayoral elections in which Kurdistan and a post-Saddam Hussein members of all ethnic and religious central government. Turkey’s primary communities can field eligible concern is that Mosul and the oil-rich city candidates.(17) of Kirkuk are not ceded to a new Kurdistan Iraq’s Kurds are concerned that federal unit. Turkey’s strategic relationship with the In the period since the establishment of United States will negatively influence the Kurdistan Regional Government, the U.S. support for the kind of federal disposition of the Iraqi Turkoman arrangement they want to see. The Kurds community has also been of concern to have repeatedly and publicly assured the Turkey. In this regard, Turkey and its U.S. and Turkey that they do not seek proxy inside the Kurdish safe haven– the independence but prefer a unified, federal Iraqi Turkoman Front--have called for the and democratic Iraq within which establishment of a Turkoman federal unit Kurdistan represents one of the federal to include the cities of Mosul and Kirkuk if political units. They have repeatedly a permanent Kurdistan federal region is indicated that they will work with a created. Turkish leaders have declared that representative transitional government to the future establishment of a Kurdistan create a constitution for a federal Iraq that federal region to include Kirkuk is a casus addresses the needs of all the communities belli. In fact, the Turks appear to have in Iraq. positioned themselves to intervene Whether Kirkuk is incorporated into a militarily in Iraqi Kurdistan in the event of Kurdistan federal region in a future Iraq a regime change.(14) and whether a separate federal region for Estimates of the number Turkoman in the Turkomans will be established cannot Iraq are unreliable and politicized. They be unilaterally determined by Turkey. range between 350,000 to well over one Clearly, these are issues for the Iraqi million. Similarly, the exact number of people to decide. Iraqi Kurds who have Kurds and Turkoman living in Kirkuk been expelled from Kirkuk and its environs today is unknown.(15) Historically the city will surely return after the liberation of
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Iraq. If the majority of Kirkukis were to establishment of the safe haven is an vote in favor of annexing Kirkuk to the experiment in pluralism that is encouraging Kurdistan federal political unit in a future the emergence of a communal identity referendum in a democratic Iraq, this shared by Kurds, Assyrian-Chaldeans and would be a powerful argument for doing Turkomans. so. I have termed this emerging form of In thinking about a federal solution for collective identity “Kurdistani-ness” for Iraq, it is important to note that Turkey is lack of a better word. My interviews with supporting a UN plan to create a Swiss- Assyrian-Chaldean and Turkoman style federal government in Cyprus in intellectuals, political and religious leaders, which the Republic of Cyprus would be and cultural activists suggest that the replaced by two component states–one decade long experiment in self rule has Turkish and one Greek–each with its own been a golden age not only for the Kurds constitution, in addition to a common state but for these smaller communities as well. with a presidential council and a two- In trying to contextualize the frequent use chamber legislature. Even the Tamil of the term “Kurdistani” by my Kurdish, Tigers seem to have reached the conclusion Assyrian-Chaldean and Turkoman that a federal arrangement with the informants, I was reminded of how government of Sri Lanka will address their Americans use the descriptors “New demands for self-determination through England” and “New Englanders” to define “substantial regional autonomy.”(18) not only geographic but also cultural and A key question for American and historic aspects of this localized American European policy makers–as well as for identity. Iraqis and Turkey– is whether federalism is My discussions with more than 100 the only viable solution to Iraq’s still Kurds, Assyrian-Chaldeans and Turkomans unresolved Kurdish question that will suggest that this new sense of Kurdistani ensure the territorial integrity of the state. identity is taking root precisely because it A second question is how the federalism accommodates pluralism or cultural will be structured. And a third is whether diversity by not threatening deeply rooted federalism, as an organizing structure for ethno-linguistic identities. The Kurdish governance in pluralistic societies, can best Democratic Party--established in 1946 and ensure stability in Iraq after regime change- renamed the Kurdistan Democratic Party in -a necessary condition for the development 1953--supported a broad-based political of democracy, human rights and an active platform for all Kurdistanis regardless of civil society. ethnic identity. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Party has advocated the same IDENTITY FORMATION IN IRAQI view since its creation in 1975. KURDISTAN SINCE 1991 However; it is only in the post-1991 When I returned from a visit to the period that the people of Iraqi Kurdistan region in June 2001, I wrote that an have experienced self rule and unintended but welcome consequence of democratization. This emerging Kurdistani the establishment of the Kurdish Safe identity allows Kurds, Assyro-Chaldeans haven in 1991 was an ongoing experiment and Turkoman to maintain their respective in democracy.(19) Based on subsequent ethno-linguistic identities and, at the same fieldwork conducted in July 2002, I would time, to establish a wider sense of further suggest that a second unintended collective identity based on three key but welcome consequence of the factors:
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--Common geography; It is well know that the Kurds support a --The ongoing experiment in self rule, concept of federalism in which all of Iraqi democratization and cultural tolerance; Kurdistan forms one of the new federal --And their shared experience as non- political units. What is less well Arab Iraqis who have all known repression understood is level of support for this and marginalization within the modern position among Assyrian-Chaldeans and state of Iraq.(20) Turkoman in the northern safe haven. Suham Wali, one of the many Future research can focus on how this Turkomans I interviewed, is an educator emerging sense of Kurdistani identity will and cultural activist, as well as director- affect support for federalism within the general of Turkoman Studies in the Assyrian-Chaldean and Turkoman Ministry of Education in Erbil. She argues communities in the safe haven. that the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government in 1992 was a CONCLUSIONS milestone. For the first time in Iraq's As political realists, Iraq’s Kurds do not modern history, the cultural and political seek separation from Iraq. Their goal is to rights of all communities were truly share in the establishment of a viable guaranteed. According to Wali, while the regional government for Iraqi Kurdistan in Kurdish majority may have first sought to a unified Iraq under a federal system, with address the rights of their own community, a governing document that provides written the new political structure under the KRG principles concerning structures and rules has benefited all communities. She for governance and appropriation of federal describes political life in safe haven since funds. Federal systems flourish around the 1991 as “a work in progress in which all globe and the establishment of such a communities, not just the Kurdish majority, structure in Iraq should not be viewed as a participate.” Based on my interviews with threat by Turkey, Iran or the Arab states of Turkomans and Assyrian-Chaldeans, I the region. On the contrary, federalism can would suggest that it is this growing help to ensure the unity and stability of a confidence in the Kurdistan Regional post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, thereby Government’s protection of the political providing a climate for democratization and cultural rights of all communities–not and civil society building. Such an just the Kurdish majority–that has caused outcome is clearly in the interest of the these two communities to embrace a shared United States and its European allies, as Kurdistani cultural identity, in addition to well as in the interest of Turkey and the their respective ethno-linguistic Iraqi people. identities.(21) Given the fact that the Iraqi regime has Moreover, I would suggest that this pursued a genocidal campaign of ethnic shared sense of Kurdistani-ness relates to a cleansing against its Kurdish community, it developing sense of communal solidarity is imperative that any future structure of as these communities ponder their fate in a governance institutionalize protections and post-Saddam Iraq. For these reasons, I guarantees for all of Iraq’s communities, would argue that the growing sense of but most notably for the Kurds who have Kurdistani-ness among Kurds, Assyrian- been so brutally victimized on the basis of Chaldeans and Turkomans in the Kurdish cultural identity. A unified, democratic safe haven has implications for the debate and federally organized Iraq would not on federalism as the best model for only address the legitimate right to self- governance in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. determination of the Kurdish community
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but also guarantee the rights of all Iraq to establish a Kurdish government communities within Iraq. inside these frontiers." 1932 Iraqi Independence: In 1932, Iraq CHRONOLOGY was granted full independence by the The following is a selected chronology British and the Kurdish problem was left of some of the significant events that had unresolved. an impact on Iraq’s Kurds in the past 1946 Republic of Mahabad: In Iran, century. Kurds established the short-lived Republic 1918 President Woodrow Wilson's of Mahabad, which survived from January Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson was 1946 until December 1946. committed to the ideal of self- 1946 Creation of the Kurdish determination for all peoples. The Twelfth Democratic Party of Iraq: This party Point stated that non-Turkish nationalities changed its name to the Kurdistan living under Ottoman control "should be Democratic Party of Iraq in 1953 to assured an undoubted security of life and emphasize the inclusion of the non-Kurdish an absolutely unmolested opportunity of communities of Iraqi Kurdistan. autonomous development." 1958 Iraq under Abd al Karim Qasim: 1920 The Treaty of Sevres: At the end After the monarchy was overthrown, of World War I, the Allied powers met to Qasim encouraged the participation of determine the political future of lands and Kurds in the new government until his peoples in the defeated Ottoman Empire. power was consolidated. In 1959, the new The Treaty provided for independence government began to clamp down on all from Turkey in those parts of Anatolia dissident groups including the Kurds. In where Kurds were in the majority and set 1961, a Kurdish rebellion broke out which forth a political mechanism for the continued intermittently for the next establishment of a Kurdish state that was to fourteen years. have encompassed the vilayet of Mosul. 1963 Phase I of the Ethnic Cleansing The Treaty of Sevres was signed but never and Arabization Campaign: The ethnic ratified. cleansing and Arabization campaign began 1923 The Treaty of Lausanne: The when the Ba’th party first came to power in Treaty of Lausanne superseded the Treaty 1963 and lasted until the temporary of Sevres. The Kurds were not given removal of the Ba'th leadership in February autonomy and the areas where they lived 1964. During this time, the Iraqi regime were distributed between Turkey, Iran, began destroying most of the Shorgha, Iraq, Syria, and the Soviet Union. The Azadi, and Akhur Hussein neighborhoods greatest number of Kurds found themselves inside the city of Kirkuk. Hundreds of either under the control of the Turkish state houses were flattened using bulldozers. or under British rule in the newly created The inhabitants of some forty villages in state of Iraq. A League of Nations the Kirkuk governorate were forcibly delegation to Mosul in 1923 to determine evicted and Arabs from the south and the wishes of the Kurds there reported they center of Iraq resettled there. wanted an independent state. 1970 Autonomy Agreement between 1924 British view: The British High Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Commission issued a statement on Government of Iraq: On March 11, 1970, December 24, 1924, "Recognizing the right an autonomy agreement was worked out of the Kurds living within the frontiers of between the KDP and the central government which acknowledged the
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existence of Kurds and granted certain collapse of the Kurdish rebellion that same rights, but included only three of five year. Kurdish provinces. It excluded provinces 1980 The Iran-Iraq War: While many like Kirkuk which contain oil. Kurds fought against the Iranians during 1974 Kurdish Revolt against the Iraqi this war, others continued the rebellion Government: By 1974, relations between against the central government, often with the Kurds and the central government had Iranian support. This diverted Iraqi troops deteriorated to the point of armed rebellion. from the battlefront to the Kurdish areas. During this period, Iran and Iraq were By 1987, the Kurds, with the support of involved in extensive border disputes. The Iran, controlled most of Iraqi Kurdistan. United States was backing Iran and Iran Saddam appointed his cousin Ali Hassan was backing the Iraqi Kurds in their al-Majid in charge of northern Iraq with struggle in order to put pressure on Iraq. In full authority and powers to eliminate the 1975, the border disputes were settled Kurdish rebellion. Chemical attacks, under the Algiers Accord and the United further destruction of villages, pollution of States and Iran withdrew their support of water supplies, detentions, and mass the Iraqi Kurds. As a result, the rebellion murders were some of the methods used to collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of put down the rebellion. Kurds fled the country to refugee camps, 1984 Phase III of the Arabization mainly in Iran. Many who could not Campaign: After another failed attempt at escape were murdered. negotiation in 1984, the regime began 1974 Phase II of the Ethnic Cleansing systematic destruction of villages, homes, and Arabization Campaign: After the churches and mosques in the Kurdish collapse of negotiations between the Kurds areas. Its operation reached a final stage in and the Iraqi regime in 1974, the Ba'th the Anfal campaign of 1988. Some 1,200 government implemented the ethnic villages were destroyed during this one cleansing and Arabization policy begun in year alone. It is estimated that 182,000 1963 to reduce the predominantly Kurdish people died as a result of the Anfal population in areas deemed of strategic campaign. The number of persons economic or political importance to Iraq. unaccounted for or killed during the three In particular, the areas surrounding Kirkuk phases of the ethnic cleansing and where large oil fields are located and those Arabization campaign is estimated at within a 20-kilometer strip near the Iran- 300,000. The total number of villages Turkey border were targeted. Kurds were destroyed during all phases is estimated to forcibly deported, murdered, removed to be more than 4000. refugee camps, or resettled in collective 1988 Halabja: In March 1988, Iraq towns. Kurdish language instruction was attacked the town of Halabja over three terminated in schools. Villages and wells days using a mix of chemicals that resulted in border areas were destroyed. This area in the deaths of around 5,000 civilians became a kind of no-man-land and anyone immediately and many more over the next found entering this 20-km. strip was few years. imprisoned and executed. Many Faily 1990 Sanctions: Under UN SCR-661 (Shi’a) Kurds living in Baghdad were passed in August 1990, sanctions were deported to Iran as well. imposed on Iraq with the intention of 1975 Creation of the Patriotic Union of forcing Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. Kurdistan (PUK): It was established in 1991 The Gulf War: Kurds were June 1975 in Damascus, Syria, after the encouraged by the United States to rise up
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against the government and overthrow Group at the Center in early 2001 to Saddam Hussein. The uprising began in examine the premise that federalism is the March 1991. But coalition forces did not best organizing framework for governance help the Kurds. At first, the Kurds were in a future Iraq. Since 1994, she has been successful in driving out the Iraqi army an adjunct professor in the School of from their territory but the Iraqi Army International Service, cross-appointed to regrouped and crushed the rebellion. In the the Divisions of International Peace and north, almost two million people fled Conflict Resolution and Comparative and Saddam's forces, seeking refuge in Iran and Regional Studies. With Charles Turkey. International outrage forced the MacDonald, she is the co-editor a volume coalition and the UN to take action. The entitled The Kurdish Identity in an Kurdistan National Front was formed to Unsettled World that will be published in organize an administration of public 2003. services for the area. 1992 Elections: In May 1992, elections NOTES were held in the newly established Kurdish 1. See Martin Van Bruinessen, Agha, safe haven with international observers in Shaikh and State: the Social and Political attendance. The Kurdistan Regional Structures of Kurdistan (London, 1992) Government (KRG) was formed and 105 and David McDowall, A Modern History of Members of the Kurdistan National the Kurds, (London, 2000) for Assembly (the Parliament) were elected. comprehensive studies of the Kurds in 1994 KDP-PUK Split: The fifty-fifty English, including extensive government split between these two parties bibliographies. According to World Food fell apart and fighting broke out between Program (WFO) food registration figures, them the population of KRG-administered Iraqi 1996 Ceasefire: The KDP gained Kurdistan is approximately 3.7million control of Erbil and the PUK withdrew to today. Based on the 1957 census (the last Sulaimaniyah. The two have maintained reliable census) and Kurdish estimates of separate administrations from that point on. the number of Kurds who were forced to 1998 The Washington Agreement. KDP leave Kirkuk and other areas due to the and PUK representatives met in regime’s policy of ethnic cleansing, there Washington in the fall of 1998. Although are well over one million Kurds in regime- both parties accepted the Accord, it has not controlled Iraq today, including Baghdad, been fully implemented. Discussions and Mosul and part of Iraqi Kurdistan. negotiations however are ongoing and Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that currently there has been significant there are between 5 and 6 million Kurds in movement towards the resolution of issues. Iraq. 2002 Reconvening of the Kurdistan 2. See the Washington Kurdish Institute National Assembly: For the first time since website
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references, in McDowall. See Kenan “Kurdish Enclave May Lead Way for New Makiya, The Republic of Fear: The Politics Iraq,” Los Angeles Times, December 1, of Modern Iraq (Berkeley, CA, 1989) and 2002. Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, 8. The parties that formed the Iraqi Uprising and the Arab World (New York, National Congress (including the Kurdistan 1993). For a comprehensive analysis of the Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of documents turned over by the Kurds to the Kurdistan, Iraqi National Accord, and the U.S. in 1991 see Robert G. Rabil, Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in “Operation ‘Termination of Traitors”: The Iraq) publicly announced their support for Iraqi Regime Through its Documents,” federalism and the legitimate right of Iraq’s MERIA Journal, Volume 6, Number 3, Kurds to self-determination in Salahadin in September 2002. See also the Harvard 1992, in the final statement of the Meetings University Iraqi Research and of the Iraqi Congress National Assembly. Documentation Project (IRDP) website The Iraqi National Congress reiterated its
28 Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 4 (December 2002) The Kurds of Iraq: Recent History, Future Prospects
Clawson (Washington, DC: The (Crescent and Star) into the mountainside Washington Institute for Near East Policy, below where their tanks are stationed in the 2002). Berwari Bala area, between Kani Masi and 12. Stability is this context refers to the Zakho. The number of Turkish troops establishment of a peaceful social and currently in the Kurdish safe haven is political environment wherein perhaps 5000. democratization and civil society building 15. The last reliable census in Iraq took can take root. Stability as defined here place in 1957. It indicated that Kurds rejects the notion that support for autocratic constituted the majority community in regimes in the Middle East promotes Kirkuk (48%). The number of Kurds and stability and is, therefore, in the U.S. Turkoman in Iraq as a whole and in Kirkuk strategic interest in particular will be determined by a new 13. See the interview with U.S. Deputy census in a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. Assistant Secretary of State Paul 16. See Robin Wright, “ ‘Arabization’ Wolfowitz entitled “Wolfowitz Forces Iraqi Kurds to Flee From Homes,” Interviewed: Nobody Should Have Their Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2002, for Eyes on Kirkuk,” in Hurriyet, December 5, a description of Saddam’s ongoing ethnic 2002, by Sedat Ergin. See also my written cleansing campaign against the Kurds. testimony for the Congressional Human 17. The original draft constitution for the Rights Caucus briefing on “The Human establishment of Iraqi Kurdistan as a Rights Situation in Northern Iraq: The federal political unit in a post-Saddam Kurdish Minority and its Future,” federal Iraq can be accessed on the November 20, 2002, for a discussion of KDP/KRG website
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