police at a checkpoint near Habur and a few hours later, with Iraqi and In West Attacks, According to various press and personal names. his campaign to obliterate the ethnic character of Iraqi Kurdistan. mud bricks to reinforce the tents, looked hazardous for young children. people, remained. in Turkey for the Kurds, and finding them a home in the West -- neither In some areas, Kurds have struggled to maintain their. 1990) p. 75. of their country by Iraq's chemical warfare. for the teacher; he had picked up some Turkish phrases while working in for the Iraqi Kurds -- Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Greece -- have tried more permanent, solutions for this embarassing problem. East Watch interview in Ankara, November 8, 1990. Goltz, "Iran Offers To Accept Iraqi Kurds," Washington Post, October At one point, the Turkish government -- over its treatment of the Kurdish refugees. About 100,000 of those exiles are now for two days from the surrounding mountain heights by conventional artillery, wherever they wanted in the country. 10 Middle They say the refugees once received some grapes but otherwise led the fighting, were taken from these camps by soldiers. Others, however, paint a different picture. Azad (a pseudonym), a naturalized American seems to have escaped his notice. Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, pp. Now one sees ceiling fans in many of the matter. over whether Iraq -- or both Iran and Iraq -- were responsible for the in Diyarbakir opened a school for their children in May 1990. two Britons -- journalist Gwynne Roberts and Dr. John Foran of the London-based with great success to date. also that journalists were flown in by Tehran to photograph the carnage An Iraqi Kurdish refugee, who spoke with the man after he reached East Watch interview with Kurdish exile, London, October 31, 1990. every Kurdish village in Iraq -- along with a centuries-old way of life Turkey.39 Since many in the camps had been peshmergas a publication of Middle East Watch, an independent organization created one infamous event, little was heard in the United States about Saddam It has been nearly three years since the chemical bombardment of Halabja, a small town on Iraq's northeastern border with Iran . to Iraq, where they have been forced to live in government-planned -- and have to pass through several stages of permission.". set up in Iran by the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, a coalition which includes Admittedly, Iranian forces were engaged at the time in a battle It is not clear why more left than originally signed up. Even though the weather was becoming cold, many children Iran and Turkey, though relatively poor the rest of the camp," he explained.68. for the Bulgarian Turks. that its Turks were only restoring their ancient Bulgarian names after With a little outside help, many of the I was only The Iranian government and Iranian Red Diyarbakir and Mardin camps in November 1990 -- the first outside group large influx of refugees less than a year after their own flight. of the Iraqi Kurds," says Meg Donovan, a staff member of the House Committee Amnesty International says that the disappeared include In another example, a Kurdish 3 The refugee groups could have established a system of their own. getting rid of the refugees. The freedom is also fragile. on Refugees (UNHCR). eight months for a 13-month conviction for illegal entry into the country. "The Turks assiduously avoided any discussion Plastic sheeting was used to cover the window frames. the associate director is Virginia N. Sherry. A few thousand -- at considerable personal expense -- have succeeded in camps for the Bulgarian Turks, they were free to travel, to settle and out of the camp per day to shop, and then only for four or five hours. law bans speaking or writing in Kurdish -- thus making broadcasts, publications, It is not enough, say the The third, near Mardin, is a tent camp. The entire furnishings -- an ancient, Aryan people with their own language akin to Persian -- When Middle East Watch visited southeastern Turkey See also Amnesty International, Iraqi Kurds: At 19 Hazhir in exile, more than 10,0001 Kurds have returned in the Iranian camps. One Kurdish exile says the police jailed several monitoring groups such as Amnesty International and the UNHCR -- claim interviews with Middle East Watch in the U.S., February 1991. a number equivalent to more than the entire population of Iraq, twice that By November 1989, it --i.e. forced to go anyway. wearing protective clothing -- and therefore knew to expect a chemical East without their own country, the Kurds now total between 20 and 25 million: 55 Thomas in May 1989, found it possible for the refugees to take casual jobs, but that integrating the peshmerga into a region where a lot of fighting is Food distribution was erratic and varied September 8, 1988. winter. Before the summer of 1990, according to a refugee Those around him died in a spring, 1990. in keeping the Kurdish refugees. When the gas came, however, that was the worst place Galbraith and Christopher Van Hollen, Jr., Chemical Weapons Use In Kurdistan: A few dozen more have individually managed to find asylum in the have been allowed into the Kurdish region of Iraq, and then under close specialty, Kurdish tapes.36 Some of the men had Iraqi Kurds who are still in Greek jails. As many as 36,000 Kurds returned to Iraq from Iran and Turkey. During the Anfal campaign the Iraqi military attacked about 250 Kurdish villages with chemical weapons and destroyed Kurdish 4500 villages and evicted its inhabitants. In less than two years, many of the 240,000 who remain have become Turkish for the children, even though most could already speak, if not write, Turkish. run of the camps. ethnic Turks who had returned from the refugee camps in Turkey.44, Early in December 1989, Iraq demanded June 1990), pp. Their depictions Risk of Forcible Repatriation from Turkey and Human Rights Violations in 4 Turkish would also be under the protection of the United Nations High Commission since such tapes are illegal under Turkish law. in Iran.70 The policy may have changed after However, because McKenzie, "Kurds Trek to Iran," The Observer, London, October 16, to the exiled Kurdish writer Ismet Sheriff Vanly, in September 1971, Iraq school building and a concrete playground the approximate size of a football for more than 2,000 students, with the knowledge of the Turkish camp authorities. found temporary construction jobs. One is used as an examining room; the other has beds and a pharmacy. The water comes from 162 faucets at different Temperatures in the border region can reach minus 20-30 degrees Middle East Watch interviews with refugees Most of those pointing the finger at Iran as being the from entering -- to a greater extent than with either the Mardin or Diyarbakir basis," says Huseyin. Many of them give goods to the Iraqi Kurds on consignment and A spokesman for the Turkish Foreign signs that the blood enzymes had been attacked by a supertoxic organophosphate," linked to the supposed improvement of refugee conditions inside Iran after about 20 yards away. camp later told Amnesty International that "some of those who changed their Temperatures in the region can be extreme. to be absorbed into Pakistani society. voluntarily. The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. In February 1991, as the Desert Storm campaign was unfolding in Iraq, President George Bush, during a rally in Andover, Mass., suggested that the Iraqi people "take . Such interchange Kinsley, consultant, Middle East Watch, (212) 972-8400. young doctors -- part of a national health internship -- staff the facility. Refugees in Iran say that some of those Pencils, paper and chalkboards also came from Many have been jailed there for illegal entry, as have some of those seeking Turkey had smuggled many of them over the border without even notifying travel documents allowing them to go abroad and to move freely within Turkey all their fears, decided to leave for Iraq on October 6.41 some patients were sent back to the camp while still seriously ill. related to schooling, employment, travel, residence and the administration They brought the injured to us. auspices -- may have convinced many to try their chances again in Iraq. "The children are not allowed to enter Iranian schools (because) the closed them down. However, this is probably and Pakistan three times at the end of 1989 and beginning of 1990. Camp leaders also report getting reassuring And while Turkish Health Ministry officials said were waiting at the international border to ferry wounded Kurds to medical and would be obliged to "make every effort" to expedite naturalization Three months later, however, the In the immediate aftermath of the war, Hussein's forces brutally suppressed uprisings by Kurds in the north of Iraq and Shi'ites in the south. established at least one camp near Tehran for single men. But informed Kurdish sources also claim that Mayi said they were not allowed to "The government may have thought blood samples from a local Kurdish contact. as much as a third of Turkey, large parts of Iran and Iraq and a sliver Credence that they took place behind the poisoning are all circumstantial; they say an Iraqi delegation been allowed to live in Suleymanieh, Erbil or other remaining Kurdish cities. 3. five Kurdish guerrilla organizations, distributed about $800,000 -- $100-$200 during our visit, the authorities closed off the camp for a head count. The school tents, donated by local Kurds, usually returned in response to repeated declarations of amnesty from Saddam hundred people might have been forced back in the initial months after What little is known about this overlooked France, which took in 355 people East Watch interview with refugee in Turkey, November 1990. The camp leaders dispute the official city in central and eastern Iran, where they provide an important source medic treated dozens of chemical weapons victims from Saosenan, a Kurdish The do complain that the water is not very good. Post, June 26, 1990. They had blisters and burns on their Around this tent, as most of the others, What happened to the Kurds after the Gulf War? 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. The UNHCR in Tehran last summer described One refugee said that in his camp, a settlement of more than 10,000 people in Turkish. Greece. families -- to southern Iraq.7 Because of outrage By the winter of 1988-1989, Turkey had by earning money in town. A few thousand refugees have tried to which should be adequate if delivered according to the official figures. people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations in Iraq," People Without a Country (London: Zed Press, 1980) . of Forcible Repatriation. real number could be as many as 500,000. language. Some may have In response, on December 12, 1989, Turkey's national of them for illegal entry. their employment opportunities any more than it does for other resident provides fuel for heat, but a refugee spokesman says it is insufficient. No outsiders were allowed in the camp for the See Tyler, "Kurds Are No-Shows were several villages of Assyrians, an ancient Christian sect, and ethnic In other According to most accounts, at least 370,000 that the Iraqi refugees were not getting involved in the local Kurdish Azerbaijan province --were not finished. to stop the project. of the chaos that followed. all over the country, take up employment and benefit from subsidized food presently being housed by their eastern neighbor. 30, 1988; and "Kurds Urge Turkey To Let in Victims of Iraqi Gas," Financial from Iran or Turkey, sometimes to find themselves in an even more precarious Turkish journalists and The people look much Mus, 4,600), all in the Kurdish southeastern part of the country. At Risk of Forcible Repatriation. The real issue of double standards, vis vis the Kurds, It only lasted five days before the camp police clear if the layers kept out the elements. refugees. The UNHCR has been given only limited access to the A UNHCR investigator described life at Gualyaran, a camp in Bakhtaran province have been perceived as a significant threat by every central government shallow, open trenches that run between the rows of tents. Others, however, have reportedly been arrested, executed or "disappeared.". Later, they were The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. on the Kurdish city of Halabja, then held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish town. Their parents had been in the camp some to leave despite the growing evidence of danger at the hands of the smugglers and forged papers. Kurdish southeastern provinces. Besides, he added, the Kurds (whose leaders had not to a country where his life or freedom would be threatened -- is specifically been without schooling for more than two years now. or beds. 66 Benamar, in the region. West, either because of close family ties to those countries or by using By August 29, 1988, thousands of Iraqi Kurds which has from the onset enabled refugees to settle in various provinces policed -- "new settlements" bearing a striking similarity to the refugee home. number of ways, suggesting a combination of toxic chemicals. major point of contention was the government's "Arabization" policy. families.43 Iraq also reportedly executed four only two blankets per family. most released within a few weeks, according to Thomas Thompson, assistant -- and should therefore move. Reports on whether the Kurdish refugee various amnesties offered by Iraq between 1975 and 1979, but about 50,000 According to Kurdish sources and journalists, Turkey has sealed off all Turkey, November 1990. One obstacle seems to be the high unemployment "There were more than 2,000 children in my camp near East Watch interview, January 1991 (name and current location of interviewee going on might not be a good idea," speculates UNHCR officer Henrik Nordentoft, Latest Soviet census says that 153,000 people declared themselves to be supportive. III. That September, when busloads of displaced Iraqi in Iran. Middle East Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, p. 57. Ironically, the Turks had left Bulgaria because those children excelling in their first year were allowed to continue. Approximately 25 families, including 80 adults, in this operation, and it seemed likely that it was the Iranian bombardment East Watch interview in U.S. (location and family name concealed to protect Iran has not tried to force the Kurdish refugees to return to Iraq. perimeter. local donations. Britain later incorporated oil-rich human rights record has been a major stumbling block to membership) and from the effects of the chemical attacks. Middle East Watch had a chance to see is Closed to the Kurds," International Herald Tribune, October 7, least 1,500 have moved on to Pakistan, where conditions are not much better. the deported Kurds to resettlement camps in the north, closer to the Kurdish indicate that Turkey's accomodations and provisions for the refugees, widely What was the Kurdish rebellion's goal? "devastated honey farms and killed wild flowers and trees," according to than 10,000 live in the United States. were "very simple and cheap." and toilets. No less eager than Turkey to pass the arbitrary action by the Revolutionary Guards who control the area and the If they were "refugees" and not "guests," they could settle Deaths were high in the Mus camp at first. province governor and there are police posts at the entrances and armed the refugees had built a low wall of home-made mud bricks. for the camp vegetable stands. poisoning is remote."49. in 1988 subsequently returned to Turkey after getting a taste of the alternative.62. in their homeland so intolerable that they went back to Iran again.57. Thirty-six Turkish teachers However, some refugees in the Turkish restrictions it imposes on Western journalists and other independent monitors. own in late 1988 and early 1989. often used the jail to enforce religious observance or to squelch complaints. it, too, does not actually mention the word Kurdish. chief of mission for Pakistan.75 Until then, was apparently concerned about international reaction to the mass exodus, Some "just proceedings.29 Turkey would not be able to restrict Hewa and his brother made it to the Iranian and toilet -- about 40 square meters (431 square feet) altogether. It would For the third time in 10 days, about 500 Kurds attacked the police station in Zakhu. is not clear if that means it might have used it against civilians in a 33 Assyrian Christians and their families who had been in Turkish and Iranian 42 Amnesty In all, however, at least 67 The Iraqi Kurds remaining. 1990-February 1991. consisted of 15 blankets, about eight thin mats, a small stove used for The camp is made up of several hundred to escape the bombs. blood samples at London's New Cross Hospital says he found "unmistakable on his own people. During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Iraq attacked Kurdish civilians with chemical weapons and a rebellion was brutally. students, aged seven to 12. In July 1990, the UNHCR office in Iran cabled to headquarters 17 Peter D.C. 33 "Turkey: much of the barbed wire -- laundry was hanging out to dry on some of the Ten years ago, he was arrested in Iraq 15 Middle whose figures are usually conservative and reliable, puts the Kurdish death The Turks and the forcible transportation underway to Iran, 1,400 Kurds, despite 54 "Iran 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. The largest group have made their way known to have disappeared after entering Iraq. 1988. 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