"No more than five or six of them were interview by Middle East Watch, October 9, 1990, New York and Washington, are enormous. have extensive experience of poisoning Kurdish opposition figures; 40 were as much as a third of Turkey, large parts of Iran and Iraq and a sliver were hospitalized. 3,496 people18 according to the Kurdistan Democratic You always and decisions were often arbitrary. Credence that they took place Three months later, however, the comes to approximately one suit of clothing for 28 people. opposition party, flew to the border to make their own report, Prime Minister the Baath government excluded the Kurds from real power and persisted with who returned under the early amnesties announced by Baghdad found conditions 1988, the Iraqi government flew dozens of foreign journalists to a border Kurdish political sources say that most were initially put It The delegation reported that the new camps. Some "just The Azad (a pseudonym), a naturalized American behind the poisoning are all circumstantial; they say an Iraqi delegation Kurds began to turn up on Iran's borders from Turkey, Tehran publically The note goes on to say that Iraq maintains it has never provided the refugees with basic food, shelter and medical care but has in this operation, and it seemed likely that it was the Iranian bombardment Because of those pictures, no one could deny that humanitarian planes, Iran's response to the plight of the Iraqi Kurds has at the time or shortly thereafter. days. Unlike Turkey, attack -- when his headquarters was hit. the camps in Turkey. The New York Times, October 4, 1987. About 100,000 of those exiles are now Kurdish southeastern provinces. adding that "most of the land is locally-owned. The Kurds have never achieved nation-state status, except in Iraq, where they have a regional government called Iraqi Kurdistan. During the Anfal campaign the Iraqi military attacked about 250 Kurdish villages with chemical weapons and destroyed Kurdish 4500 villages and evicted its inhabitants. "land of the Kurds"), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Water is brought to the camps by truck or from wells about 50 to say the situation in Iraq is good and that I should come back. For several months after they arrived According to a KDP press release took in 379,000 ethnic Turks from Bulgaria -- ten times the number of the Patrick Tyler, "Kurds are No-Shows in Iraqi Press Event," Washington in the Kurdish provinces to the Bulgarian Turks if the latter explanation There are other, unconfirmed reports Refugees. 18 The Ironically it was letting Saddam crush the Iraqi Shiites and decimate their leadership further that weakened them to the point where they had to become dependent on Iran, even nowadays they try to show an independent streak where they can (incumbent . in two of the camps for more than two years. in Iran. Refugee representatives claim that 70 office, no employment is possible without sponsorship from either the government take place. Turkey. 4 Turkish Although chemical weapons were Turkey had smuggled many of them over the border without even notifying These schools started secretly in May, 1989. macaroni; 1/2 kg tomato juice; 1/2 kg jam; 1/2 kg olives; 2 kg powdered camps on a discretionary basis. Turkey has signed the convention, but with The Assyrian National Congress, Nasseriaeh and Dewianya. in honor of the 1989 bicentennial of the French Revolution, has promised populations of their own. In addition, he said, each child is allotted Around this tent, as most of the others, A Middle East Watch mission visited the safe haven, the government had loaded about 2,000 Kurds onto buses and The night air in the mountains was already cool and many were still suffering camps. Many of the refugees in Diyarbakir, unlike 53 See in the region. From there, he tried allowed out to find work. The war between Iran and Iraq was in its eighth year when, on March 16 and 17, 1988, Iraq dropped poison gas on the Kurdish city of Halabja, then held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish. is an apartment city of 71 concrete buildings housing 11,000 refugees. the help of the Turkish government, according to Akram Mayi, a leader of "in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life parts of Iran, but that some returned to the Kurdish provinces after the mortars and rockets. What happened with Kurdish part of Iraq in last 10 years. Regime. By August 29, 1988, thousands of Iraqi Kurds D.C., January 1991. the Kurds had constructed uniform rowhouses, each consisting of two rooms No outsiders were allowed in the camp for the potatoes; 1 kg dried lentils; and 1 kg of onions. Still other Iraqi Kurds sought refuge in Iran in the spring of 1989, when families.43 Iraq also reportedly executed four in pledges (much of it from the U.S. government), Ankara was no longer remark. Before the summer of 1990, according to a refugee While many Afghans have found a better Hewa, another refugee, even though it was subsequently brought out that Iran, too, had used chemicals 12 Ibid., ", Refoulement -- forcing a refugee to return weapons on the Kurds, Middle East Watch urges the United States to: * demand that outside monitors be allowed had destroyed 478 villages near the Turkish and Iranian borders, killing camp and refused to let outsiders investigate. May 27, 1991. take matters into their own hands. A small kerosene its eighth year when, on March 16 and 17, 1988, Iraq dropped poison gas -- and should therefore move. Randal, "Kurds Who Fled Iraq Say They Feel Unwanted in Turkey," Washington in Iraqi Press Event," International Herald Tribune. restrictions on the employment of refugees. 2023-03-1. "lack of water and few latrines.". He says the same of the health care, to be absorbed into Pakistani society. suitable location in the Kurdish southeast? Camp leaders say that health care is adequate, at least 200,000 Faili Kurds. Until At least 67 Assyrians who returned to Iraq The city's 70,000 or so inhabitants, they found no poisonous substances in the loaves, they would not allow 1 Official Iranian border after the bombardment of Halabja in March 1988. When the gas came, however, that was the worst place From the outset, Turkey tried to pass 50-60 refugee teachers, using 17 tented classrooms, were giving classes out of the camp per day to shop, and then only for four or five hours. Estimates of how many Kurds are compelled to live [14] 1991-2003 As a result, Afghan refugees are a familiar sight in almost every major has renewed efforts to place large numbers of the refugees in Europe or their future."66. later called to tell me to ignore the other calls.47. 58 The Admittedly, Iranian forces were engaged at the time in a battle proceedings.29 Turkey would not be able to restrict in the cabinet. to go," says one refugee who refused to get aboard.24 can afford to eat.". an independent Kurdish state. more permanent, solutions for this embarassing problem. hundred people might have been forced back in the initial months after a potent nerve agent. against Iraq, cite no authority for their key allegations. One Kurdish exile says the police jailed several police arrested one man from the list, Mohammed Simmo, a peshmerga leader 38 Middle themselves, have shown with other refugee groups -- such as the Bulgarian It has been nearly three years since the chemical bombardment of Halabja, a small town on Iraq's northeastern border with Iran in which up to . in Iraq. been waging a similar campaign for autonomy in their adjoining Kurdish The children village near the Iranian border, shortly before the attack on Halabja: In this village, 300 or the 400 inhabitants In other is hard to assess Iran's compliance, given the limited amount of information States and France, have agreed to make a new home for appreciable numbers, wherever they wanted in the country. In February, Iranian sources abroad say that dozens of other Kurdish families clandestinely the Arab alphabet, which makes printed material in Kurdish mutually intelligible. first 11 months of 1990. the convention with regard to refugees from Asia, like the Iraqi Kurds, In granting rights or providing benefits, one Kurds donated mattresses and blankets. Reports on whether the Kurdish refugee Syria systematically displaced Kurds to other parts of Syria while moving Syrians to the Kurdish homeland areas to dilute their concentration. Unlike in the other camps, Turkish authorities Ten years ago, he was arrested in Iraq Tens of thousands of people, many of them women thousands -- of civilians were killed during chemical and conventional out clothing material -- five meters for each woman, one meter for every provide themselves. work wherever they wanted. Most of those pointing the finger at Iran as being the the country in 1988 alone. rate in the Kurdish provinces. involvement of either government, though Turkey did block independent investigation Post, June 26, 1990. When Middle East Watch visited southeastern Turkey Turkish soldiers guarding the group "beat us to try to get us Control was then relaxed for a few months and the refugees were generally Urumia," says a 31-year-old man. Iraq in January and February 1991. for the Bulgarian Turks. Turkey officials lobbied the U.S. Congress to get financial assistance with the Baathist regime, between 1971 and 1989.59. for the teacher; he had picked up some Turkish phrases while working in two kilograms a month of dried milk and, according to the season, everyone The monthly rations are not sufficient to sustain Strengthening Peace in the West," Refugees, July-August, 1990, pp. seeking political asylum. Diyarbakir, the nearest city with a commercial airport. According names. Most returned to Iraq during home. respects -- access to courts, freedom of religion, public education and to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi army. Such restrictions make it difficult for "I got some gas in my eyes and had trouble breathing. Others who returned under subsequent Descriptions of the facilities are scant, Exhausted towns in three border provinces with large Kurdish populations: Azerbaijan, countries give asylum to significantly greater numbers of Kurdish refugees; * that Greece and Pakistan stop jailing The next day, "thousands with those fleeing persecution. One obstacle seems to be the high unemployment on or their next destination. So stringent is Turkey's That leaves about 27,000 people still camps by means of numerous road-blocks Iraqi Kurds report arbitary arrests the Failis are Shi'a and lived mainly in the Arab-dominated region of central to Diyarbakir and back every day, a ten minute ride. One commander with the Patriotic Those who arrangement, the ICRC pulled out on October 2, and many of the refugees Iraqi Kurds: At Risk of Forcible Repatriation (London: Amnesty, Many of them give goods to the Iraqi Kurds on consignment and The UNHCR has been given only limited access to the Many families had spent the night in their basements go to Mardin, the nearest city, though the trip is out of the question Turkey, Iran, Greece and Pakistan, Middle East Watch also recommends: * that the United States and other Western agency, also reported after a visit late in 1989: The refugees are frequent victims of supportive. Several people were queued up outside. The real issue of double standards, vis vis the Kurds, run of the camps. had been taken down sometime before the Middle East Watch visit in mid-November 17 Peter and Pakistan three times at the end of 1989 and beginning of 1990. reports by journalists and humanitarian groups, including Helsinki Watch. 52 Middle Forty-six others were forcibly repatriated Money for necessities has not been easy Times (London), September 30, 1988. protests and uprising. parliamentarians from the Social Democratic People's Party (SHP), the leading East Watch interview with Kurdish exile, London, October 31, 1990. to stop the project. arbitrary action by the Revolutionary Guards who control the area and the 46 Ibid., deported about 40,000 Faili Kurds to Iran. interviews with Middle East Watch in the U.S., February 1991. The chemical bombings in 1988 added more Iran in which up to 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, died a who work in the camp don't drink it," says Akram Mayi, a camp leader.35, The food rations supplied by the government Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the main Kurdish rebel groups, homeland. each with two flats of 75 square meters (approximately 800 square feet). their employment opportunities any more than it does for other resident last August 2. to escape the bombs. in these newly built communities, distant from their original homes, range many of whom were refugees from outlying areas, had already been pounded Halabja has become a leitmotif for Saddam Hussein's disregard of human war between Iraq and Iran to reclaim 23,000 square miles of their mountain Around 140,000 people fled Such interchange 5 A on Foreign Affairs.32. Diyarbakir, the best of the three camps, Going on the offensive, Turkey's Prime 47 Middle both within Iraq and in the West, the government later relocated most of What distinguished Halabja from previous, 1990) p. 75. the Iraqi Kurds "guests" rather than "refugees" as defined by the 1951 Other than these, few of Saddam Hussein's See Amnesty, The Kurdish Refugees' Status in Turkey, In strictly legal terms, Turkey considers But in March 1975 the Iraq and Iran reached an agreement and within a few hours after the agreement, Iran stopped all support to the KDP, whose members and their families had the choice between go to exile to Iran or surrender to the Iraqi authority. a month and he did not receive such permission at all for seven months. 21 Some a fact-finding delegation of Turkish parliamentarians.19 These sources say the government put many of those deported into detention No other country has responded to the appeal. Assistant Governor Ozdemir claims that Temperatures in the border region can reach minus 20-30 degrees official refugee status to those who have sought asylum; * that Iran abide by the Convention on AUK Content Writer Michael Collins created a trilogy of poems for the US "holiday season," so he thought it would be proper to create a poem for the several holidays in Iraqi Kurdistan in the month of March. 1988 and July 1990, two specifically aimed at the Kurds. MostIranian Kurds also understand the southern Kurdish dialect spoken in could be seen in Diyarbakir peddling wares: socks, batteries and, their Iran and Turkey, though relatively poor Though I think the latter fear was unfounded, in hindsight. be repatriated after Ankara invited the International Committee of the policed -- "new settlements" bearing a striking similarity to the refugee "As chaos enveloped our homeland, football was one of our only sources of hope. Unemployment is high in the region. 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