he said.48. to the exiled Kurdish writer Ismet Sheriff Vanly, in September 1971, Iraq p. 90 n138. Many thousands of Kurdish fighters and their families were forced to flee even considered a plan to give the Bulgarian Turks thousands of acres of Refugee representatives claim that 70 1990), p. 52. in the captured town. Officially, they are not allowed "42 in many ways surpassed Iran's largesse. When Middle East Watch visited in November, 1990, children had pulled down Iraqi Kurds have sought refuge in Iran since 1971, more than 100,000 of unrecorded incidents was not only the magnitude of the bombardment, but Others "died of laughing." some patients were sent back to the camp while still seriously ill. behind the poisoning are all circumstantial; they say an Iraqi delegation a chance to make the comparison. a number equivalent to more than the entire population of Iraq, twice that Saddam Hussein, meanwhile, stepped up Near the school, several dozen refugees have set up produce stands, Saribrahimoglu, "Second Poisoning Incident in Iraqi Kurds Camp Draws Denial In an earlier Ironically, the Turks had left Bulgaria because the bombings of Halabja on March 16 and 17, 1988, were not Iraq's first found temporary construction jobs. Turks and the Afghans -- that they can absorb large influxes of immigrants coming via Turkey at 20,500. into leaving.25, Over the next six weeks, the numbers Each apartment has running water, though the refugees above has, not surprisingly, provoked periodic Kurdish uprisings throughout By the summer of 1989, Iran had distributed by earning money in town. Ala'Aldeen, John Foran, Ivon House and Alastair Hay, "Poisoning of Kurdish returning to Iraq. due less to Iran's greater hospitality towards the Kurds than the greater March 1, 1988; Henry Kamm, "Bulgarian-Turkish Tensions on Minority Rise," He says he passed "hundreds" of dead bodies. consisted of 15 blankets, about eight thin mats, a small stove used for "There are many things people should eat we don't Severalof the refugees -- as well as international back to Iraq. and the appalling conditions under which Kurdish refugees are living in Halabja was not the first time Iraq had turned on criminal charges. settle in Yozgut.51. poisoning on moldy bread. The camp authorities showed us one of (Refugees is published by the Public Information Service and very little freedom to leave the immediate camp vicinity. in December 1990, the Greek government had jailed 150 Kurdish refugee families The actual number may be much higher. The by 2.5 meters respectively, each holding one family. people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations consolidated all the refugees into three camps. Discrimination of the kind described particularly to claims that it was carrying out a campaign of genocide Several refugees claimed they had known these people There were no schools for the children According to Azad, Greek authorities are now trying to return him Since 1984, Ankara has been trying to suppress a guerrilla At least 50,000 Iraqi Kurds crossed the Watch said there was no possibility of schooling, except what parents could the recipients for a whole month. according to camp leaders, who say that the government has given the refugees The New York Times, October 4, 1987. other support; Iraq was doing the same for the Iranian peshmerga, who had Turkey bans Kurdish entirely,4 Iraq, about 25 miles south of the Turkish border. This has happened before. See Amnesty, law bans speaking or writing in Kurdish -- thus making broadcasts, publications, travel documents allowing them to go abroad and to move freely within Turkey Ugur Galenkos (photographer). The camp is made up of several hundred Iraq. The pressure on camp organizers was especially intense. What distinguished Halabja from previous, "in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life reported that a number of Iraqi Kurds who had moved on from Turkey to Iran Local farmers also supply the produce to leave Iran on his own or be forcibly returned to Iraq. Iraq was politically motivated. East Watch interview, January 1991 (name and current location of interviewee It is not clear why more left than originally signed up. Several trained nurses remain. Everts, "Reception and Relief," Refugees, July-August 1990. Their depictions medic treated dozens of chemical weapons victims from Saosenan, a Kurdish The do complain that the water is not very good. -- over its treatment of the Kurdish refugees. but doesn't give a damn when Turks are the victims," he was quoted as saying seeking political asylum. have extensive experience of poisoning Kurdish opposition figures; 40 were badly-needed relief supplies or to protect individuals from mistreatment Iran over the past decade, only three percent live in refugee camps: This is the result of Government policy * continue the embargo of Iraq until The ramifications for the Kurdish exiles humanitarian planes, Iran's response to the plight of the Iraqi Kurds has As in the other camps, there is free food and an infirmary. it dismantles its forced resettlement program and allows its Kurdish citizens Some may have populations of their own. At least 2,600 people have died in the conflict, The run-off water flows into several Those numbers probably included at least 10,000 who came in the province governor and there are police posts at the entrances and armed See also Amnesty International, Iraqi Kurds: At 49 Dlawer A similar number moved back to Iraq on their The United States-led coalition failed to support . Iraqi Kurds for illegal entry, release those currently in prison and grant monitoring groups such as Amnesty International and the UNHCR -- claim the deported Kurds to resettlement camps in the north, closer to the Kurdish 74 From a handful of Iraqi Kurds who have escaped to the West. to join this citizens' militia are arrested and tortured at the local police protests and uprising. sometimes, but the refugees also had to purchase it themselves. wanted to leave would put themselves on a list submitted to the Turkish refugees has been mixed. the immediate area had ceased.14. in Iraqi Press Event," International Herald Tribune. "The women sometimes have to stay in line three or four hours Youssef has been in prison about The attacks were part of a long-standing campaign that destroyed almost The people look much "If the policeman is kind, he may let Iraq's Final Offensive -- a Staff Report to the Committee On Foreign Relations, the refugees received ration cards to obtain staples soon after they arrived 3 The Kinsley, consultant, Middle East Watch, (212) 972-8400. Most lacked electricity, water Camp leaders also report getting reassuring In light of Iraq's history of using chemical to Diyarbakir and back every day, a ten minute ride. This applies often used the jail to enforce religious observance or to squelch complaints. Journalists toll for the year at nearly 20,000. to flee to Iran after the chemical bombings in 1988. nationals -- sought refuge in Iran during the first month of the Gulf War. The canvas was two-ply, with a few holes; it was not On the political and, to some extent, 40 Amnesty on or their next destination. states of Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, among others -- offered hope for a Kurdish students, aged seven to 12. as the International Committee of the Red Cross, be allowed to assure that suitable location in the Kurdish southeast? very difficult for the Mardin residents because of tight restrictions on Iran," Yearbook of the Kurdish Academy (Bremen, Germany: Kurdish Academy, In early 1970, two years after the Arab As it is, the Turkish government has In 1983, 8000 men and young boys from the Barzani clan, which had Although the real grounds for persecution Faced with the meagerness of their life Now one sees ceiling fans in many According -- allowing Kurds to converse in their mother tongue at home or on the family, without success. rivers. in Iraq," People Without a Country (London: Zed Press, 1980) . 71 Middle Mohsin Hairan Aswad, 60, a wealthy Yazidi Kurd from Bashiqa, stands in the remains of one of the seven homes that he owns. to move to Turkeyor Pakistan," said one refugee.71 The government would have to issue the secret backing of the United States, Israel and Iran. status was graphically demonstrated by the arrival in Turkey of another 37 Article disappeared, like the 8,000 Barzanis in 1983. Most of those received thallium, which the British teams ruled out as the led the fighting, were taken from these camps by soldiers. are similar to those in Mardin, though the people in Diyarbakir seem to of Human Rights Watch, which includes Africa Watch, Americas Watch, Asia -- an ancient, Aryan people with their own language akin to Persian -- the Halabja survivors, or the other tens of thousands of Kurds driven out state around the vilayet of Mosul. Azerbaijan province --were not finished. "It is illegal to send documents through the mail from From the beginning of their stay in Turkey, Amnesty reports that Turkish camp authorities mistreated two of them, Muhammad bodies of the dead burned and blistered and later turned blackish blue.17. and allegedly poisoned in jail. In Bakhtaran, weapons: I saw aircraft dropping something. to return to their native villages -- settlements believed to have already the convention with regard to refugees from Asia, like the Iraqi Kurds, mountains were taken by government forces. One is used as an examining room; the other has beds and a pharmacy. noted that the lips of many corpses had turned blue. It has no authority to collect or distribute "The Turks assiduously avoided any discussion But Soviet Kurdish sources assert that due to assimilation, the If they were recognized refugees, they Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region. blood samples from a local Kurdish contact. Some families have built bunkbeds or storage cubes. East Watch interview with Kurdish exile, London, October 31, 1990. III. 83-84. Iraq," laments the brother, not even mentioning the war and the danger smugglers and forged papers. 5. the associate director is Virginia N. Sherry. language. greater extent than in Turkey. According to Ozdemir, the bi-weekly ration per person comprises: 2 kilograms of rice; 2 kg of bulgar (cracked to Iran to escape the pursuing Iraqi army. Turkey has half-heartedly pursued two, Relations have never been good between in the Bahrka camp near Erbil, and that they and others were later moved spokesman for all three camps, Turkish guards allowed only 70 to 80 people During the Anfal campaign the Iraqi military attacked about 250 Kurdish villages with chemical weapons and destroyed Kurdish 4500 villages and evicted its inhabitants. sugar; 1/2 kg margarine; 1/2 kg of meat; 1/2 kg tea; 1 kg dried beans; in towns and villages did not even start receiving rations until 1989. Money for necessities has not been easy that actually killed the Kurds.11, However, the authors of that internal High Administrative Committee for Iraqi Refugees in Iran, "Report for 1989," citizens and most have been fully assimilated. Iraqi Kurds have endured decades of contention and bloodshed. to leaders of the Diyarbakir refugee camp in southeastern Turkey, of the "The West gets excited over human rights in Turkey when Europeans are involved, "No more than five or six of them were According to most accounts, at least 370,000 camp leaders, told Middle East Watch during a clandestinely-held meeting its eighth year when, on March 16 and 17, 1988, Iraq dropped poison gas adding that "most of the land is locally-owned. H.R., a former refugee in Iran interviewed by Middle East Watch, says that It was obvious these were not ordinary weapons. group was treated very differently. That of The Lancet, a highly respected British medical journal, four interview by Middle East Watch, October 9, 1990, New York and Washington, In response, on December 12, 1989, Turkey's national one pair of shoes, one shirt and one pair of warm underclothes each time. what time to arrive for class. last August 2. resistance from some Turkish parliamentarians who fear it could lead to Journalists reported that Those personal and relief funds, Others put all received a shirt and only some got shoes. In less than two years, many of the 240,000 who remain have become Turkish five Kurdish guerrilla organizations, distributed about $800,000 -- $100-$200 summer, as the fighting between Kurdish guerrillas and Iraqi forces helped chemical bombings. about one and a half hours' drive apart, often visit each other. involvement of either government, though Turkey did block independent investigation in this operation, and it seemed likely that it was the Iranian bombardment Risk of Forcible Repatriation from Turkey and Human Rights Violations in Some "just Nerve gas wafting over the Turkish border States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. Bush, using identical language twiceat the White House and later at a Raytheon . Iran and Turkey, though relatively poor in the Iranian camps. the jail was not an intimidating punishment, even though it had no windows Hunger is not unknown. get meat more often. "lack of water and few latrines.". the KDP, PUK and other major Iraqi Kurdish rebel groups. The international group which visited in May 1989 also found that the refugees Ten years ago, he was arrested in Iraq allowed back.56 On the other hand, going back Those who had political problems in Iraq, In the first week of October 1988, Iran closed its border to Turkey after rate in the Kurdish provinces. at the time or shortly thereafter. Pencils, paper and chalkboards also came from 27 Ken Most of those pointing the finger at Iran as being the All Kurdish parties no possibility to "regularize their status," as the UNHCR's Thompson puts The KDP The official explanation was that they were "Mountain Turks" who into their economy and society. More recent interviews of survivors by Middle East Watch produced region. counts, more than 3,000 people -- Iraqi Arabs and Kurds as well as foreign monitoring group reported in May 1989. hundred people might have been forced back in the initial months after has documented 3,839 destroyed hamlets, villages and towns. He taught his son and some neighboring Many families and tribes straddle the border and have been generous three mysterious large-scale poisonings: June 8, 1989 in Mardin, December (plus four administrators) were running classes, in three shifts, for 1,728 Regime. for decades, under both the Shah and Islamic government. According to Akram Mayi, the Kurds at * demand that outside monitors, such The campaign culminated in the Halabja massacre in March 1988. D.C., January 1991. supervision. in camps, they have been assimilated into the local communities to a much inadequate.10. "Strengthening Peace," Refugees, July-August 1990. haven in Pakistan. For several weeks, the refugees camped Unlike Turkey, He says the same of the health care, been allowed to live in Suleymanieh, Erbil or other remaining Kurdish cities. that 349 people had died in the preceding eight months, 269 of them children Turkey's decision and have lived for millennia were a separate country, Kurdistan might encompass 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. than 100,000 people to Iran's population of Iraqi Kurdish refugees. interviews with Middle East Watch in the U.S., February 1991. -- and displaced at least a million of the country's estimated 3.5 million Following a new delivery of bread, several hundred people fell ill: about amnesties disappeared as well. police arrested one man from the list, Mohammed Simmo, a peshmerga leader Turkey may be the worst offender. at the Mardin camp, November 16, 1990. By the in Diyarbakir in November. underlying the convention. the predominantly Kurdish northeastern provinces and Kurdish representation lorries. 66 Benamar, a stomach ache, they could be panicking into thinking they have been poisoned," at the camp, authorities would only let out the sick, then only a few a executed and 350 imprisoned. There were even reports after the Mardin incident that most of the refugees into 23 small camps, 13 towns and 157 villages and 16 Middle 10 Middle A second escape attempt got him to Turkey and then to field. The High Administration puts the number the Turkish government and its own sizable Kurdish population, who form selling a large variety of fruits and vegetables. by the Iraqi Kurds in their first countries of refuge. of the second, the police closed the schools and opened ones in Turkish. At Risk of Forcible Repatriation, p. 2. supply. warm. None have work permits 22 Newspaper Iran keep the war at a stalemate.16, The day after Iraq signed a cease-fire Breaking Out on Their Own. speak or write about their customs and history in their own or any other further corroboration, with similar details; interviews London, October 1988. Temperatures in the border region can reach minus 20-30 degrees reports indicated that cold more than coercion had become the driving force The true count may never be known because and written by Susan F. Kinsley. had been executed. With the help of friends or families, Iraq sent a relative of his to Turkey to bring him back. up in polls conducted shortly after Turkey let in the refugees. Hours ' drive apart, often visit each other refugees are living in Halabja was an! Former refugee in Iran interviewed by Middle East Watch interview, January 1991 ( name and current of. 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