Community Introductions

* Note: This assignment was completed as part of PLSI 250, San Francisco State University, Fall 2004, and does not necessary reflect the views of the authors.

“I went from one village after another, looking at this erasure (of Kurdish villages)…something like 4000 villages have gone…The amount of labour that went into destroying them was phenomenal…the wells were concreted over. The graveyards were leveled. It took incredible human effort to demolish on this kind of scale…an apex of cruelty was reached in 1988,” said Kanan Makiya, reporting from northern Iraq from the BBC.[1]

Who is this terror that could systematically work to destroy 100,000 to 300,000 Kurdish people of Iraq? Is this man a modern-day Hitler? In the eyes of the world and we, the Kurdish people, the answer is yes. Only one regime could possibly be responsible for this genocide. This is the nearly three decade regime of Saddam Hussein. His so called “ethnic cleansing” nearly obliterated all of our people. But, even though the lives of my fellow Kurds were nearly destroyed, our spirit was never wavering. Our rich history, the progression of my people through time, and the important role we play in current Iraqi affairs proves our inner strength and unrelenting devotion to Allah.

Our hometown of Erbil, located in northern Iraq, is a city filled with rich ancient, and modern history. Since Erbil is one of the oldest cities in the world, it is no surprise that its name was derived from the holy texts of the Sumerians over 2,000 years ago.[2] Currently home to about twenty three percent of the Kurdish population, Erbil is also the capital of the Federal Kurdistan Region. The Federal Kurdistan Region is an extensive plateau and mountain area that includes parts of Turkey, Northeastern Iraq, small parts of Iran and smaller sections of Syria and Armenia.[3] The Federal Kurdistan Region is currently an autonomous region that has become home for millions of Kurdish people. Even though Erbil has been the capital of Kurdistan for many years, we, as Kurdish people have had to fight for our autonomous region and our independence from Iraq’s authority.

The oppression of our people dates back to the seventh century and it wasn’t until the end of the Ottoman Empire and the end of World War I in 1919 that we introduced our claims for independence to the Paris Peace Conference. In 1920, the Treaty of Sevres, which liquidated the Ottoman Empire, also granted our people an autonomous Kurdish state. However, the oppression of Kurdish people did not end easily. In 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne superseded the Treaty of Sevres, revoking the autonomous region that was originally granted to the Kurds. As a result, our people revolted and once again became an oppressed and abused population. As Kurds, our next hope for peace and development for our people came in 1958 with the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy. Yet, once again, the new government failed to provide our people with the desired administrative projects and our autonomous region. This led to more warfare between our Kurdish people and Iraqi troops that lasted until the late 1960’s. It wasn’t until 1970 that Iraq granted us self rule with the city of Erbil as our capital. However, we refused to accept the terms of the agreement, “contending that the President of Iraq would retain real authority and demanding that Kirkuk, an important oil center, be included in the autonomous Kurdish region.”[4] It may seem strange that we denied Iraq’s offer but we had been an oppressed people for many years and we weren’t going to stop fighting for what we truly wanted: a unified and autonomous Kurdistan in which we could ultimately rule ourselves. Ultimately, our refusal to Iraq led to more fighting. In 1979, the government in Iran went out on a mission to assasinate our leaders and kill our people. Throughout the 1980’s during the Iran-Iraq war, we were attacked, poisoned and executed. Yet, hope finally came again to the Kurdish people in 1991 when the Persian Gulf War ended and our people were granted protection from the U.N. Now that we were safe we could act freely and we did!

In 1992, we, the Kurdish people established an autonomous region in Northern Iraq and we held our first general election. However, now that we had our region we needed to decide how to run it. Since we were split between two groups, the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan no decision on how to run this new home of ours could be reached. Ultimately, this led to sporadic warfare between the two parties and their peoples until 1999. “In 1999 both groups decided to end the hositlities and control of the region is now divided between them.”[5] Although it took many years, we have gained our Kurdish region and today, Erbil is considered by many to be Kurdistan’s center for culture, education, and trade while also being known for its many natural resources and deeply rooted cultural tradition.

As Kurdish people there are many distinctions that define who we are. First and foremost, we as Kurdish people do not have one unified religion. The majority of us are Sunni Muslims but there are some among us who also practice Shi’a and Yezidi. We also have a few Christians and a dwindling Jewish population. Secondly, we are people who seek safety away from violence and exile. Our Kurdish people have been victims of homicide, genocide, chemical bombings and more. We want to live among a peaceful regime that will protect us and secure us, and live in a place where we don’t have to be afraid. The fact that we have been perceived as a threat to almost every government in the Middle East allows us to be tampered with. No country wants to recognize us as an independent state and many of our neighboring countries want to rid themselves of our people and our culture. As a result, we are forced to live a life in fear. We cannot talk or speak of our customs and we cannot teach, speak or write about our customs and/or history in our own Sorani dialect or any other language.[6] In many ways this explains why we, as Kurdish people are all so different. The Kurdish people in Turkey, for example, are the victims of the most harsh cultural repression the Kurds have ever faced. However, in Iraqi Kurdistan, we, the Kurdish people have developed a ‘safe haven’ where even non-Kurds flee to during times of hostility. However, we, as Kurdish people of northern Erbil Iraq, are a repressed group who just wants to better ourselves if not just for our benefit but for Iraq’s as well.

Our purpose in northern Iraqi Kurdistan varies with time but our main goal is to provide a safe place for all Kurds that we can call our own. However, we must clarify that as Kurdish people, we “do not seek separation from Iraq. Our goal is to share in the establishment of a viable regional government for Iraqi Kurdistan in a unified Iraq under a federal system, with a governing document that provides written principles concerning structures and rules for governance and appropriation of federal funds.”[7] Although Iraq has culturally repressed and victimized our people for decades, our region in northern Iraq is one of the safest places for Kurds to reside. We really do not want our own state at this time but we do want to be recognized and accounted for. We currently have two different parties who govern, making it difficult to progress politically as a state. We, as Kurdish people have not yet unified behind one certain system therefore we do not have the capabilities of forming a state. Currently today, our purpose is to maintain the ‘safe haven’ Kurdistan provides for the Kurds in northern Iraq. We also strive to be protected and accounted for even though we may never have the capacity to be recognized as a state.

[1] http://www.jafi.org.il/education/actual/iraq/4.html

[2] www.salun.org/erbil.htm

[3] www.historychannel.com

[4] www.historychannel.com

[5] www.historychannel.com

[6] http://www.hrw.org/reports/1991/IRAQ913.htm

[7] www.meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue4/jv6n4a5.html