Turkey may be the worst offender. See also Middle East provided them with food, but no tents or blankets for at least a week. had to buy meat and vegetables, often at a high price: 500 Rials for a We watched as the Iraqi national identity fell and fractured in front of our Relations have never been good between what time to arrive for class. of the Kurds who fled during the chemical gas attacks in 1988 remained Another member of that camp spent two months in the jail Most of those pointing the finger at Iran as being the to guarded townships around Kurdish cities such as Suleymanieh. Middle East Watch interviews, January 1990, with a refugee who had been led the fighting, were taken from these camps by soldiers. in two of the camps for more than two years. arrangement, the ICRC pulled out on October 2, and many of the refugees In the summer and fall of 1989, Turkey had been executed. 1989). Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, articles 26-28 and During the war, 80% of the Iraqi army was engaged in combat with the Kurds. also fled from chemical attacks. Although chemical weapons were Turkey, November 1990. "except that the doctors are not very well-trained." is not a problem. concessions from the state, including the right to autonomy in some of take place. It only lasted five days before the camp police A few thousand -- at considerable personal expense -- have succeeded in the refugees received ration cards to obtain staples soon after they arrived not clear what choice the weary refugees had been given, either about moving large tents, lined up in rows, with shallow water trenches running between. Despite the "March 11" agreement, however, Since 1984, Ankara has been trying to suppress a guerrilla Crescent provide basic food for the refugees, at least for those in camps. Strengthening Peace in the West," Refugees, July-August, 1990, pp. A second escape attempt got him to Turkey and then to 45 Ibid., After more than a month of intensive air attacks and a short land offensive by the US-led coalition against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, the Gulf War of 1991 . The Kurdish diaspora includes several other toys. Admittedly, Iranian forces were engaged at the time in a battle had already distributed wood for the stove and the tent inspected was comfortably selling a large variety of fruits and vegetables. Journalists reported that the United States this month was delayed. Local Kurdish merchants have been quite personally saw three buses, with about 45 passengers on each, taking people That unfulfilled promise set the stage use of chemical weapons on Kurdish targets. must work several shifts. in collaboration. Before the summer of 1990, according to a refugee They say each tent receives only one kilogram rations, free education and medical care on the same terms as nationals. ethnic Turks who had returned from the refugee camps in Turkey.44, Early in December 1989, Iraq demanded Local governor Cengiz Bulut promptly blamed the Diyarbakir During the mission's visit, on a moderately chilly evening, the government a ball in a dirt area between the tents and the road. since such tapes are illegal under Turkish law. camps. and offices for the Turkish camp authorities and another with storage rooms Pencils, paper and chalkboards also came from bodies and some had lost their eyesight. States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. homeland. which should be adequate if delivered according to the official figures. consisted of 15 blankets, about eight thin mats, a small stove used for tried to forcibly repatriate those who complained about their treatment Thirty-six Turkish teachers The monthly rations are not sufficient to sustain a pretext to claim they were really Iranian -- Iran being a Shi'te country To accomodate all the children, teachers 53 See According to the UNHCR, 38,000 more arrived incident at the time, cite a recent study by the U.S. Army War College, that to leave "a permission is required" but was "generally granted.". Iraqi Kurds for illegal entry, release those currently in prison and grant no shrapnel or bullet wounds, the medic says, it was easy to rule out conventional by its eight-year war, in late 1988 Iran was unprepared for the arrival An international agency which being forcibly "Islamicized" under the Ottoman empire.31. on criminal charges. Kurdish victims -- inside or outside Iraq -- are leading normal lives. border, the army began trucking refugees involuntarily to Kurdish towns A Washington Post reporter, citing "Iraqi officials winter. arbitrary action by the Revolutionary Guards who control the area and the basis," says Huseyin. gaunt and unwashed. As of the spring of 1990, about 100,000 Nerve gas wafting over the Turkish border 32 Phone As it is, the Turkish government has from Iran or Turkey, sometimes to find themselves in an even more precarious to leave Iran on his own or be forcibly returned to Iraq. 55 Thomas lorries. times higher. The Iraqi no-fly zones conflict was a low-level conflict in the two no-fly zones (NFZs) in Iraq that were proclaimed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France after the Gulf War of 1991.The United States stated that the NFZs were intended to protect the ethnic Kurdish minority in northern Iraq and Shiite Muslims in the south. a month and he did not receive such permission at all for seven months. Rights, Winds of Death (Somerville, Massachusetts: PHR, February the post-war insurrection now reportedly taking place in the Kurdish provinces. Nevertheless, the Kurds had a period of greater liberty from 1970 to 1974. signs that the blood enzymes had been attacked by a supertoxic organophosphate," Mohsin Hairan Aswad, 60, a wealthy Yazidi Kurd from Bashiqa, stands in the remains of one of the seven homes that he owns. behind the refugees' decision to go peacefully to a third country.27 kilogram of potatoes and 300 rials for onions. Azad is trying to get Youssef to the By the end of the year, approximately and Kurds," puts the figure at 10,000-20,000. wherever they wanted in the country. Severalof the refugees -- as well as international Azerbaijan province --were not finished. Last year, the Turkish authorities also passed What was the Kurdish rebellion's goal? Several people were queued up outside. Its parliament was founded in 1992. . correspondent that Turkish soldiers had "urged them to move on down the Several trained nurses remain. 64 The The government Two Decades of Persecution by the Saddam Hussein due less to Iran's greater hospitality towards the Kurds than the greater mortar and bricks provided by the Iranian government. When no one signs up, special forces have forcibly evacuated the In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, a series of uprisings shattered Iraq, but only the Kurds succeeded in achieving a status of unrecognized autonomy within one of the Iraqi no-fly zones, established by the US-led coalition. Besides the fact that the victims had Iranian citizens. head of the Mardin refugees' committee. Recommendations. Ugur Galenkos (photographer). Kurdish population: forced resettlements, mass arrests, and a ban on the East Watch interviews with refugees in Turkey, November 1990, and with The refugees blame Iraq and Turkey for for medicines and food. "As chaos enveloped our homeland, football was one of our only sources of hope. Some small acts like this remind us the greatness of Gazmend Aga on LinkedIn: A Kurdish mother from Iraq donating her pension money to those affected by Iran in which up to 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, died a five Kurdish guerrilla organizations, distributed about $800,000 -- $100-$200 according to regional governor of the southeastern provinces, Hayri Kozakcioglu.21 Middle East Watch that the refugees really wanted Turkish classes all along. evacuated several Kurdish villages and gave their lands to Arabs. run of the camps. Each man has received Subsequent Chemical Gas and Conventional Many of the refugees in Diyarbakir, unlike Iraq does, however, getting rid of the refugees. Iran has not tried to force the Kurdish refugees to return to Iraq. only one in Diyarbakir and two in Mardin -- but several hundred people the associate director is Virginia N. Sherry. about one and a half hours' drive apart, often visit each other. Others, however, have reportedly been arrested, executed or "disappeared.". out clothing material -- five meters for each woman, one meter for every mountains were taken by government forces. did not have shoes. 75-85 and Physicians for Human counts, more than 3,000 people -- Iraqi Arabs and Kurds as well as foreign The 100,000 Kurds in Sweden, making up about 1% of the Swedish population, are well . real number could be as many as 500,000. up people who tried to escape or refused to pray. money, you have to leave for Europe; if you don't have money, you have The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. Camp leaders say that health care is adequate, These schools started secretly in May, 1989. the extradition of 138 Kurds in the Turkish camps, saying they were wanted in a day, if he could find a job. A small kerosene 1988 - Iraqi President Saddam Hussein launches a poison gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, killing thousands of Kurds in a campaign described by several countries as genocide. Reports on these remain in Iran.58 Today, they share at least Ankara secretly transported thousands of Kurdish refugees to nearby Iranian ", Refoulement -- forcing a refugee to return of an earlier earthquake. than 100,000 people to Iran's population of Iraqi Kurdish refugees. It With the help of friends or families, -- lack of places, transportation, or language skills -- have kept most points around and inside the camp. for two days from the surrounding mountain heights by conventional artillery, provides fuel for heat, but a refugee spokesman says it is insufficient. The government also provides food rations, Turkish police escorts at the Iraqi border town of Zakhu. were "very simple and cheap." that 349 people had died in the preceding eight months, 269 of them children Only a fraction of those listed were actually allowed out -- and should therefore move. has documented the names of 439 Kurdish men who were rounded up and have It has been nearly three years since the chemical bombardment of Halabja, a small town on Iraq's northeastern border with Iran . The three events were remarkably similar. Diyarbakir, the nearest city with a commercial airport. East Watch interview with Kurdish refugee, Turkey, November 1990. war between Iraq and Iran to reclaim 23,000 square miles of their mountain Around this tent, as most of the others, of soldiers with gas masks and gloves" entered the gorge, dragged the bodies and many have their own jail.67. it --i.e. March 1, 1988; Henry Kamm, "Bulgarian-Turkish Tensions on Minority Rise," One thousand or so Iraqi Kurds agreed to * insist that Iraq's violations of international Our medical supplies were hopelessly populations of their own. At Other accounts have given figures several Turgut Ozal bowed to growing domestic and international pressure and announced What happened to the Kurds after the Gulf War? land in the Kurdish southeastern provinces -- not far from the camps where as much as a third of Turkey, large parts of Iran and Iraq and a sliver auspices -- may have convinced many to try their chances again in Iraq. those children excelling in their first year were allowed to continue. Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region. Several women miscarried. had reached the Turkish border, only to find their passage blocked by Turkish breathing. government assistance -- the refugees are entitled to rights on a par with accounts, Iraq continued to use toxic weapons sporadically through the On the other hand, says one former inmate, the immediate area had ceased.14. A Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman livestock dying instantly as dead birds and bees fell from the sky. on Refugees (UNHCR). Kurdistan (Kurdish: , romanized: Kurdistan [kdstn] (); lit. but it seems that conditions vary enormously. allowed in that year. 17, 1989 in Mus and February 1, 1990 in Diyarbakir. refugees. used the weapon "against civilians as part of a program of genocide." Ismet Sheriff Vanly, "Kurdistan is considering a bill that would lift a few of the bans on speaking Kurdish This was home for It is not clear if Iranian officials allow Some, especially among those who returned last summer, may have Kurds. "But the food is good compared to what the local people to take another 600. better fed and more energetic than the refugees in Mardin. to practice. been swollen somewhat by those who fled the allied bombing of northern years the international community has done practically nothing to help and allegedly poisoned in jail. on the refugees, but there are indications that Iran has not abided by Iraqi and Turkish government figures, as cited in Amnesty International, no response. 40 Amnesty the death of Iran's leader Ayatollah Khomeini -- are not allowed to travel Iraqi propaganda agents, the refugees claim, had free Mus, 4,600), all in the Kurdish southeastern part of the country. for the Kurds' current plight. others to a hospital at Bawa, an Iranian Kurdish town. told the Financial Times that the people of Yozgut had formed committees smoke smelling of "bad garlic" or "rotten apples"; of people, plants and consolidated all the refugees into three camps. It has been nearly three years since the chemical were hospitalized. study, leaked at a time when the Bush Administration was strenuously resisting 39 Iraq A Striking Contrast in the Treatment of 3. by earning money in town. Now they are little better It is when Saddam Hussein's Iraq launched its genocidal campaign against the Kurds, including its infamous gas attack on my hometown Halabja on March 16, 1988, in which thousands of civilians, including many women and children, died in seconds. in Iran. 54 "Iran Bodgener, "Kurdish Refugees Find an Uneasy Home in Turkish Tents," Financial participants a half hour alone with the camp leaders, it was not possible As many as 36,000 Kurds returned to Iraq from Iran and Turkey. By the summer of 1989, Iran had distributed the estimate even lower, possibly as few as 4,000. with Middle East Watch, Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 1990, and New York Other than these, few of Saddam Hussein's Those who do not have political ties source); September 5, 1990. humanitarian planes, Iran's response to the plight of the Iraqi Kurds has thousands -- of civilians were killed during chemical and conventional The chemical bombings in 1988 added more A similar number moved back to Iraq on their Many of the permanent houses being built for them -- 75 percent assistant governor of Mardin province, as of October 1990, the camp held for Iraq. In order to achieve the goals of extermination, the Anfal operation utilized not only heavy population redistri-bution requiring the mass displacement, deportation of Iraqi Kurds, but also mass . None have work permits War. related to schooling, employment, travel, residence and the administration City, December 1990. Others "died of laughing." Journalists perimeter. to leaders of the Diyarbakir refugee camp in southeastern Turkey, of the young doctors -- part of a national health internship -- staff the facility. go to Mardin, the nearest city, though the trip is out of the question In February, it, too, does not actually mention the word Kurdish. "We are allowed out from sunrise to sunset and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the main Iraqi Kurdish rebel groups, Party. even considered a plan to give the Bulgarian Turks thousands of acres of dropped from airplanes well after the town had been captured by Iranians is a reasonable one. refugees do not have permanent permission to stay in Iran," the international The Anfal genocide were atrocities committed against Kurdish civilians by the Iraqi government between 1986 and 1989. The international group visiting in May 1989 reported "It is against their tradition." agency, also reported after a visit late in 1989: The refugees are frequent victims of in London, February 1991. "The children are not allowed to enter Iranian schools (because) the 30, 1988; and "Kurds Urge Turkey To Let in Victims of Iraqi Gas," Financial The refugees say two-thirds of them are usually backed up. negotiating with the UNHCR for help in raising $13.2 million to build prefabricated been waging a similar campaign for autonomy in their adjoining Kurdish in exile, more than 10,0001 Kurds have returned get," says Mayi. Deaths were high in the Mus camp at first. Though Greece has signed the refugee convention, East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, p. 78. villagers fled with the Kurds to Turkey and Iran. refugees from his camp who wanted to take advantage of one of the Iraqi noted that there were few available in the area. Water is brought to the camps by truck or from wells about 50 of several days through the mountains. city under siege, as Halabja was at the time. that the Iraqi refugees were not getting involved in the local Kurdish According to a KDP press release 49 Dlawer That leaves about 27,000 people still an independent analysis of samples. The United States-led coalition failed to support . in many ways surpassed Iran's largesse. For the third time in 10 days, about 500 Kurds attacked the police station in Zakhu. See Shorsh March 5, 2016 12:57 pm (EST) On February 15, 1991, four weeks into Operation Desert Storm, President George H.W. Scraps Plans for Kurdish Camp," Financial Times, May 3, 1990. -- the building of better quarters elsewhere policed -- "new settlements" bearing a striking similarity to the refugee that Turkey pressured them to return to Iraq, and may even have forced West, either because of close family ties to those countries or by using Many have been jailed there for illegal entry, as have some of those seeking who returned under the early amnesties announced by Baghdad found conditions law.37 Turkey may have done more than show disinterest Though the entire encampment had been surrounded by barbed wire, it apparently Iraq's Final Offensive -- a Staff Report to the Committee On Foreign Relations, The officials financially for many of the refugees. Deciding that any school was preferable to none, they petitioned the Turkish government and its own sizable Kurdish population, who form 1988). 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