Nation Building in Kurdistan : Memory, Genocide and Human Rights

The Kurdish people and the Kurdish Regional Government faced huge challenges rebuilding their nation and identity after the atrocities and human rights abuses committed by Saddam Hussein and his regime. In 2005 a new Iraqi constitution recognized as genocide the persecution of Faylee Kurds, the disappearance of 8,000 males belonging to the Barzanis and the chemical attacks of Anfal and Halabja paving the way to the investigations and claim by Kurdish people. This book provides in-depth analysis of the tensions caused by the Kurdish experience, the claim for the independence of a united Kurdistan and the wider tendency towards political and social fragmentation in Iraqi society. Cover 1 Title 3 Copyright 4 Dedication 6 Contents 7 List of figures and maps 10 List of tables 11 List of abbreviations 12 Preface 14 Acknowledgements 16 Introduction 17 1 A country in the making: memory and human rights in the Kurdistan region 23 A government for the Kurdistanis: the Kurdistan regional government 1991–2014 23 A government in the making 24 The Kurdish experiment in democracy: the Kurdistan Regional Government 27 Kurdish political thought: between federalism and independence 30 UN Security Council Resolution 688 and the Kurdish question in Iraq 32 Human rights abuse: a difficult past 33 Circumstances underlying Resolution 688 35 Investigation into human rights abuse in Iraq 37 2 Arabization as ethnic cleansing 39 Rebuilding Kurdistan: a difficult past, a challenging present 39 Displacement and Arabization through state intervention 43 A constitution for the Kurdistanis 45 Kirkuk for the Kurds: heritage and oil 48 Kirkuk: a blueprint for forced Arabization 52 Normalizing the Kirkuk governorate 53 Kirkuk after 2003 53 The state of negotiations with Baghdad until 2014 54 Peace in the future? 57 3 Propagating hate, inciting murder 63 The Faylee Kurds: a silent crime 63 The Kurdish middle class: the demographic and economic reality of Faylee Kurds 64 The Ba’athist anti-Kurdish policy against Faylee Kurds 66 Citizenship laws and deportation 70 Disturbing parallels with recent European history: does ‘Arabization’ equal ‘Aryanization’? 73 Gathering the evidence: was it genocide? A legal insight 76 The KRG and negotiating compensation: the challenge of coexistence 78 4 Blueprint of a genocide 83 The massacre of the Barzanis and the difficult quest for the truth 83 Documentary evidence 84 The history of a persecution 87 Setting up the crime scene 92 The court’s decision 98 5 A state-engineered national project 101 The Anfal campaign 101 The background to the Anfal campaign 101 The state crime of Anfal 103 Premeditated crime 104 The Anfal campaign plan and the implementation phases 105 The eight phases of Anfal 107 The first Anfal (21 February 1988–18 March 1988) 107 The second Anfal (22 March 1988–2 April 1988) 107 The third Anfal (7 April 1988–20 April 1988) 107 The fourth Anfal (3 May 1988–5 May 1988) 112 The fifth, sixth and seventh Anfal (15 May 1988–7 June 1988) 112 The eighth Anfal (8 August 1988–6 September 1988) 112 The Anfal mass graves 112 The prosecution of detainees 121 6 Death from the sky 126 Chemical weapons (Halabja): the birth and development of the Iraqi chemical weapons 126 Chemical weapons in Iraq 128 The development of the Iraqi chemical weapons 129 The organized use of Iraqi chemical weapons 130 The international ban on the use of chemical weapons 132 The historical aspect 132 International ban compliance 132 Actus reus 134 Mens rea 135 The international element 136 Eyewitnesses 138 The official documents 140 The court’s ruling 141 The defendants’ testimonies 142 7 A new horizon? 149 A view from Kurdistan 149 Transitional justice in Iraq 154 The Kurdish political experiment 155 Conclusion 165 A future for Kurdistan 168 The threat of ISIS and the future of Kurdistan in the region: a path towards independence? 169 Appendix 173 Arabization 173 Faylee Kurds 177 Barzanis 178 Anfal 188 Halabja 192 Bibliography 194 Index 212