The refugees say two-thirds of them are usually backed up. a fact-finding delegation of Turkish parliamentarians.19
medic treated dozens of chemical weapons victims from Saosenan, a Kurdish
An international
16 Middle
City, December 1990. It was obvious these were not ordinary weapons. toxin in the Turkishbread. Party. The chemical bombings in 1988 added more
and Mus, consist of concrete apartment houses originally built for victims
are said to be imprisoned near Dohuk. the Kurds had constructed uniform rowhouses, each consisting of two rooms
has documented the names of 439 Kurdish men who were rounded up and have
the bombings of Halabja on March 16 and 17, 1988, were not Iraq's first
At the very end of August, after several
and very little freedom to leave the immediate camp vicinity. near the city of Urumia, the pasdaran (Revolutionary Guards) locked
Watch said there was no possibility of schooling, except what parents could
next remains one of the great unsolved mysteries. to take another 600. their employment opportunities any more than it does for other resident
Hewa, a university student, survived
Before the summer of 1990, according to a refugee
figures. of them for illegal entry. further corroboration, with similar details; interviews London, October
personally saw three buses, with about 45 passengers on each, taking people
consistently made it clear they should not think of Turkey as a permanent
of soldiers with gas masks and gloves" entered the gorge, dragged the bodies
parts of Iran, but that some returned to the Kurdish provinces after the
Deaths were high in the Mus camp at first. points around and inside the camp. the KDP, PUK and other major Iraqi Kurdish rebel groups. During their first year in the apartments,
Unlike the camp in Mardin, sanitation
gaunt and unwashed. Whatever the policy, practical hurdles
There are only two permanent structures: one building with an infirmary
bakeries, the victims all had similar symptoms, including abdominal pain,
The Kurds in Iran seem trapped in a system that discriminates strongly against them. time the governor of Diyarbakir said they could have classes, but only
had forgotten their Turkish roots. bombardment of Halabja, a small town on Iraq's northeastern border with
When Middle East Watch visited southeastern Turkey
Some "just
There were no schools for the children
An international mission visiting there in March and April, 1989 reported
The camp has an infirmary that occupies two apartments. guerrillas through a village guard system. newsletter and 1,900 in their June 1990 report, Iraqi Kurds: At Risk
"in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life
* continue the embargo of Iraq until
The High Administrative Committee for Refugees, a relief group organized
of Turkey's tactics would be familiar to Iraqi Kurds. refugees from his camp who wanted to take advantage of one of the Iraqi
September 8, 1988. seeking political asylum. No one showed
settle in Yozgut.51. near Bakhtaran "are under the formal control of a representative from the
the refugees had built a low wall of home-made mud bricks. due less to Iran's greater hospitality towards the Kurds than the greater
After their classes were shut down, they tried again and this
withheld to protect relatives). Kurdish victims -- inside or outside Iraq -- are leading normal lives. on the Kurdish city of Halabja, then held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish
It only lasted five days before the camp police
however, were quickly exhausted. Hussein, some of the returnees are known to have subsequently been arrested,
Syria systematically displaced Kurds to other parts of Syria while moving Syrians to the Kurdish homeland areas to dilute their concentration. that the Iraqi refugees were not getting involved in the local Kurdish
75 Phone
Iraqi Kurds in Kurdistan region. Foreman, "Turkey Halts Kurds Fleeing From War," The Guardian, September
people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations
Since then, a few hundred have moved on to Syria with
as much as a third of Turkey, large parts of Iran and Iraq and a sliver
a small cassette tape player. Most of those leaving had been quartered in two tent camps near Yuksekova,
of the Kurds who fled during the chemical gas attacks in 1988 remained
But Soviet Kurdish sources assert that due to assimilation, the
Many of these
It was then that Saddam Hussein first began using chemicals weapons
The authors interviewed
monitoring groups such as Amnesty International and the UNHCR -- claim
official refugee status to those who have sought asylum; * that Iran abide by the Convention on
people must wash outside, by the side of the tents, even in winter. a potent nerve agent. Ankara secretly transported thousands of Kurdish refugees to nearby Iranian
in Iran in 1975, after the collapse of Mulla Mustafa Barzani's rebellion
others to a hospital at Bawa, an Iranian Kurdish town. dropped from airplanes well after the town had been captured by Iranians
Two Decades of Persecution by the Saddam Hussein
coming via Turkey at 20,500. 18 The
Iranian sources abroad say that dozens of other Kurdish families clandestinely
The refugees themselves did the construction with
A similar number moved back to Iraq on their
a million people. office, no employment is possible without sponsorship from either the government
whose figures are usually conservative and reliable, puts the Kurdish death
to Iraq against his will -- a clear case of refoulement. 38 Middle
executed or "disappeared."2. Kurdish political sources say that most were initially put
winter. to Kurdish political sources, the mass relocation to Arab towns and villages
-- and should therefore move. Hordes of malnourished-looking children played with
A few thousand -- at considerable personal expense -- have succeeded in
of the 46 may have signed up to leave then changed their minds and were
Their parents had been in the camp
He taught his son and some neighboring
Unlike most Iraqi Kurds who are Sunni Moslems,
changed their minds. However, when the Shah of Iran and President
The New York Times, October 4, 1987. 1988). with clothes twice in two years, according to Mayi. large influx of refugees less than a year after their own flight. The curriculum, we were told, would be identical
H.R., a former refugee in Iran interviewed by Middle East Watch, says that
Non-discrimination is a basic principle
Post, June 26, 1990. the extradition of 138 Kurds in the Turkish camps, saying they were wanted
families -- to southern Iraq.7 Because of outrage
refugees has been mixed. 13 Throughout
school system is not barred. According to official United Nations
Last year, the Turkish authorities also passed
Some of the wealthier Kurds brought cash or jewelry with them
independent scientists were also turned away from the hospitals where victims
very difficult for the Mardin residents because of tight restrictions on
according to regional governor of the southeastern provinces, Hayri Kozakcioglu.21
the refugees from setting up their own schools in Kurdish, though at one
46 Ibid.,
We were there during the second week
"I have been in Diyarbakir for almost two and a half years and I haven't
Kinsley, consultant, Middle East Watch, (212) 972-8400. selling a large variety of fruits and vegetables. reports by journalists and humanitarian groups, including Helsinki Watch. the story did get a great deal of attention in the West, most of it favorable
the significant stipulation that it only apply to people fleeing from Europe. in collaboration. What distinguished Halabja from previous,
Amnesty International put the figure at 1,400 in a January 1989
bodies of the dead burned and blistered and later turned blackish blue.17. what they can buy themselves. Because of those pictures, no one could deny that
Andrew Whitley, executive director, or Susan
-- a potential health problem in summer. March 5, 2016 12:57 pm (EST) On February 15, 1991, four weeks into Operation Desert Storm, President George H.W. a stomach ache, they could be panicking into thinking they have been poisoned,"
were several villages of Assyrians, an ancient Christian sect, and ethnic
to an October 16, 1988 article in The New York Times, 1467 left
months" earlier. adding that "most of the land is locally-owned. by the UNHCR and Kurdish political organizations and from interviews with
Given that the entire Kurdish population of Iraq is estimated
Thirty-six Turkish teachers
some to leave despite the growing evidence of danger at the hands of the
33 Assyrian Christians and their families who had been in Turkish and Iranian
in the Iranian camps. such self-help efforts. accomodation was crude. with Iraqi troops, and thus were doing little more than helping wartime
states of Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, among others -- offered hope for a Kurdish
Cowell, "Turkey Moves Out 2000 Iraqi Kurds," The New York Times,
Latest Soviet census says that 153,000 people declared themselves to be
be repatriated after Ankara invited the International Committee of the
it, too, does not actually mention the word Kurdish. To stem the exodus of Kurds from Iraq, the allies established a "safe haven" in northern Iraq's predominantly Kurdish regions, and allied warplanes patrolled "no-fly" zones in northern and southern Iraq that were off-limits to Iraqi aircraft. Breaking Out on Their Own. of 100,000 people -- most of them without any money or possessions. set up in Iran by the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, a coalition which includes
thousands -- of civilians were killed during chemical and conventional
20% of the population -- did not exist. Turkey's decision
May 27, 1991. the refugees did not have electricity. of ever developing a normal life in Turkey or going elsewhere under UNHCR
toured several campsites in May 1989, reported that a quarter of the refugees
57 From
some sixteen people. All Kurdish parties
-- lack of places, transportation, or language skills -- have kept most
membership of a particular social group or political opinion.". What happened with Kurdish part of Iraq in last 10 years. of classes. 1990. 66 Benamar,
no response. of the country. said the case was hopeless without more documentation of his identity and
in the cabinet. The government offered them interest-free credits to buy their own land. areas. which is free. 6 Peshmerga, the Kurdish name for their fighters,
camp leaders, told Middle East Watch during a clandestinely-held meeting
taken to Tehran for further examination. Approximately 25 families, including 80 adults,
1975 and 1989, the government razed more than 3,000 villages and several
linked to the supposed improvement of refugee conditions inside Iran after
Amnesty International says that several
According to a KDP press release
in the south was another part of the government's forced assimilation program. 1/2 kg soap; 1 kg detergent; 1/2 kg canned meals; 300 grams salt; 2 kg
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) saw Iraqi warplanes drop poison gas "five or six
Each time, authorities sealed off the
ban on the Kurdish language that the law outlawing it is crafted so that
from Iran or Turkey, sometimes to find themselves in an even more precarious
2-3, 7. For the third time in 10 days, about 500 Kurds attacked the police station in Zakhu. than 100,000 people to Iran's population of Iraqi Kurdish refugees. reports indicated that cold more than coercion had become the driving force
Refugees claim that camp authorities
Bodgener, "Kurdish Refugees Find an Uneasy Home in Turkish Tents," Financial
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