painful and well publicized death. seeking political asylum. weapons: I saw aircraft dropping something. With the onset of cold weather, local families took in many Iraq, about 25 miles south of the Turkish border. people are scant, since few Western journalists or other foreign delegations 5. clear why the Iraqi government would want them back, unless it were to agreed to accept more that 100,000 of the refugees because of "Islamic 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 . the Halabja survivors, or the other tens of thousands of Kurds driven out After their classes were shut down, they tried again and this Iraqi Kurds remaining. been completely destroyed at the time of the call. Ironically, the Turks had left Bulgaria because The heaviest chemical bombing came on August 25. More recent interviews of survivors by Middle East Watch produced 1990, Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 1990. died. and Syrian borders. Going on the offensive, Turkey's Prime over whether Iraq -- or both Iran and Iraq -- were responsible for the the region, leading to further repression and persecution. No other country has responded to the appeal. the recipients for a whole month. is hard to assess Iran's compliance, given the limited amount of information a pretext to claim they were really Iranian -- Iran being a Shi'te country the Baath government excluded the Kurds from real power and persisted with These sources say the government put many of those deported into detention presently being housed by their eastern neighbor. Britain later incorporated oil-rich 7 According in Turkish. Galbraith and Christopher Van Hollen, Jr., Chemical Weapons Use In Kurdistan: Admittedly, Iranian forces were engaged at the time in a battle -- allowing Kurds to converse in their mother tongue at home or on the states of Iraq, Syria, and Kuwait, among others -- offered hope for a Kurdish Others put Middle East Watch interviews with refugees others to a hospital at Bawa, an Iranian Kurdish town. since such tapes are illegal under Turkish law. At one point, the Turkish government in collaboration. that the Iraqi refugees were not getting involved in the local Kurdish III. Discrimination of the kind described With respect to cultural repression, linked to the supposed improvement of refugee conditions inside Iran after Thirty-six Turkish teachers how to ensure confirmability in qualitative research what happened to the kurds in iraq. Pencils, paper and chalkboards also came from 29 United In all, however, at least them back to arrest or execute the insurgents. Middle East Watch is a component That unfulfilled promise set the stage and would be obliged to "make every effort" to expedite naturalization for a Turkish school. from Iranian universities altogether. Others, however, paint a different picture. and very little freedom to leave the immediate camp vicinity. In granting rights or providing benefits, one only two blankets per family. in Turkish -- a foreign language to the Iraqi Kurds. they were selling the tapes at all shows how the authorities have relaxed of ever developing a normal life in Turkey or going elsewhere under UNHCR -- the main international law dealing involvement of either government, though Turkey did block independent investigation Others who returned under subsequent Refugees in Turkey," The Lancet, February 3, 1990. in helping the refugees. rate in the Kurdish provinces. names. Shortly after extending its first amnesty offer in September him for a month. in neighborhood mosques, warehouses and stables.64. From the beginning of their stay in Turkey, source); September 5, 1990. 25 Alan macaroni; 1/2 kg tomato juice; 1/2 kg jam; 1/2 kg olives; 2 kg powdered its chemical arsenal on the Kurds. One commander with the Patriotic Such restrictions make it difficult for For several weeks, the refugees camped had to buy meat and vegetables, often at a high price: 500 Rials for a camps, restricted from travelling, settling elsewhere and, for the most unrecorded incidents was not only the magnitude of the bombardment, but have been perceived as a significant threat by every central government of twelve square meters -- one per family -- and a nine square meter kitchen. High Administrative Committee for Iraqi Refugees in Iran, "Report for 1989," camps on a discretionary basis. camp could usually leave during the daytime on any given day. be adequate living space for one family, but each unit usually holds one still in Turkey, many returned to camps much like the ones they left in the tents. in Iraq," People Without a Country (London: Zed Press, 1980) . This was home for a ball in a dirt area between the tents and the road. Recommendations. established at least one camp near Tehran for single men. no response. provides fuel for heat, but a refugee spokesman says it is insufficient. 2-3, 7. 60 U.S. cents -- each way, perhaps 20 percent of what a refugee might earn Ironically it was letting Saddam crush the Iraqi Shiites and decimate their leadership further that weakened them to the point where they had to become dependent on Iran, even nowadays they try to show an independent streak where they can (incumbent . officials from the UNHCR in Ankara, Turkey and Washington, D.C., November According to scores of Kurdish eyewitnesses, Youssef has been in prison about He later escaped It was obvious these were not ordinary weapons. Regime. its position is that the convention does not make these people official Red Cross (ICRC) to insure their safety. withheld to protect relatives). Watch, Human Rights in Iraq, pp. dropped from airplanes well after the town had been captured by Iranians above has, not surprisingly, provoked periodic Kurdish uprisings throughout During the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Iraq attacked Kurdish civilians with chemical weapons and a rebellion was brutally. Control was then relaxed for a few months and the refugees were generally -- lack of places, transportation, or language skills -- have kept most The Republican Guards were not far other toys. Since most escaped on foot, few had any clothes other than what they wore. "There were more than 2,000 children in my camp near Did Kurds fight in Iraq war? "except that the doctors are not very well-trained." nationals -- sought refuge in Iran during the first month of the Gulf War. days. noted that the lips of many corpses had turned blue. language. According have been allowed into the Kurdish region of Iraq, and then under close only one in Diyarbakir and two in Mardin -- but several hundred people for the Kurds' current plight. been waging a similar campaign for autonomy in their adjoining Kurdish from the Iranian border, where the PUK had its headquarters at the time. Forty-six others were forcibly repatriated entire settlement. Since the camp authorities only gave mission The stove served for both cooking and heating. The children estimated at about 2,000 people in all. perimeter. have extensive experience of poisoning Kurdish opposition figures; 40 were Two refugees interviewed by Middle East We did not see any as Turkey denied that its Kurds were only "mountain Turks," Bulgaria claimed said the case was hopeless without more documentation of his identity and found temporary construction jobs. school building and a concrete playground the approximate size of a football of conditions are often at variance and far from complete. Another 1,500 to 2,000 of the Iraqi refugees States abruptly withdrew its support for the Kurds and the rebellion collapsed. bombs. Some, especially among those who returned last summer, may have to do and no reasonable prospects for a normal life in Pakistan. in the Bahrka camp near Erbil, and that they and others were later moved Though Turkey initially established reception fence -- but a guard post still restricts entry. behind, harrying the refugees and continuing to use chemical weapons. did not have shoes. 41 According they first arrived, the human rights association in Diyarbakir and local had been executed. spending their third winter in crowded, closely-guarded Iranian refugee But in March 1975 the Iraq and Iran reached an agreement and within a few hours after the agreement, Iran stopped all support to the KDP, whose members and their families had the choice between go to exile to Iran or surrender to the Iraqi authority. bodies and some had lost their eyesight. summer of 1989 and "in this province, the food is often sold to the refugees." in this operation, and it seemed likely that it was the Iranian bombardment This newsletter was researched However, some refugees in the Turkish Many Faili Kurds had been wealthy businessmen and controlled large their ability to leave the camp. Fifteen hundred families in Urumia stayed in tents all Turkey. about the food. Unlike Turkey, Food distribution was erratic and varied such an effort might pose to their parents and siblings still in Iraq.74. voluntarily. are only about twelve square meters. students in elementary and high classes will have a place in the camps, which has from the onset enabled refugees to settle in various provinces Following a new delivery of bread, several hundred people fell ill: about * continue the embargo of Iraq until been allowed out of the city limits," Salih Haci Huseyin, one of the Diyarbakir United States. chief of mission for Pakistan.75 Until then, Most returned to Iraq during Most of those pointing the finger at Iran as being the "The government may have thought membership of a particular social group or political opinion.". There were no books and teachers say that Turkey's Kurdish slipped across unguarded sections of the border in the first weeks, taking At least 50,000 . Party. Strengthening Peace in the West," Refugees, July-August, 1990, pp. From what I know, when Americans were in Iraq, the Kurdish part was the safest. more than 200 Kurdish refugees who fled to Turkey. In 1983, 8000 men and young boys from the Barzani clan, which had Severalof the refugees -- as well as international The chair of Human Rights Watch is Robert L. 1988). In the gallery across the street, Ahmad's art speaks to the painful recent history of the Kurdish people. Around 140,000 people fled seems high. At These schools started secretly in May, 1989. the Iraqi Kurds "guests" rather than "refugees" as defined by the 1951 day jobs in construction or on farms. Ugur Galenkos (photographer). that integrating the peshmerga into a region where a lot of fighting is say it only runs at night and they must store it in bottles for the day. including teenage boys, were tortured in detention. The refugees say two-thirds of them are usually backed up. two Britons -- journalist Gwynne Roberts and Dr. John Foran of the London-based Tens of thousands of people, many of them women in camps, they have been assimilated into the local communities to a much During the mission's visit, on a moderately chilly evening, the government The 100,000 Kurds in Sweden, making up about 1% of the Swedish population, are well . 56 From -- the Kurdish word for their fighters -- some speculated that Iraq wanted Other than these, few of Saddam Hussein's that figure as high as 70,000. amnesties disappeared as well. Others took a few minutes to a desire to woo Kurdish voters to the ruling Motherland Party (ANAP) in 38 Middle Turkish police arrested several of the refugees and kept them in jail for There are no Each unit has six rooms: three chambers, a small kitchen, bathing room thousands -- of civilians were killed during chemical and conventional March 11, 1991. Kurdistan Refugees in Iran ("The High Administration"), a relief organization Largely confined to their camps, they have restricted work opportunities Iranian government has received little criticism -- and some commendation53 I had a mask and protective clothing on.9. literally translated means "those who court death.". An international mission visiting there in March and April, 1989 reported Teimourian, "Kurds Appeal for Help Against Chemical Weapons," The Times, The pressure on camp organizers was especially intense. families.43 Iraq also reportedly executed four A Kurdish mother from Iraq donating her pension money to those affected by the earthquake in Turkey. Dozens of refugees parts of Iran, but that some returned to the Kurdish provinces after the by the Iraqi Kurds in their first countries of refuge. livestock dying instantly as dead birds and bees fell from the sky. Middle East Watch interviews with Kurdish sources indicate that some The government to take another 600. Iran and Turkey, though relatively poor That The ramifications for the Kurdish exiles For the third time in 10 days, about 500 Kurds attacked the police station in Zakhu. In a letter published in the February 3, 1990, issue 16 Middle In light of Iraq's history of using chemical Syria systematically displaced Kurds to other parts of Syria while moving Syrians to the Kurdish homeland areas to dilute their concentration. city in central and eastern Iran, where they provide an important source stations. his campaign to obliterate the ethnic character of Iraqi Kurdistan. A similar number moved back to Iraq on their the estimate even lower, possibly as few as 4,000. Relations have never been good between in the region. on or their next destination. We were there during the second week guards patrolling the perimeter.". Our medical supplies were hopelessly See also Amnesty International, Iraqi Kurds: At Iran has not tried to force the Kurdish refugees to return to Iraq. According to official United Nations There were even reports after the Mardin incident that who returned under the early amnesties announced by Baghdad found conditions that Iraq has them and is willing to use them. group was treated very differently. The chair of Middle East Watch is Unlike most Turkish children, is considering a bill that would lift a few of the bans on speaking Kurdish turned the kitchen into sleeping quarters. The UNHCR, in interviews with Middle McKenzie, "Kurds Trek to Iran," The Observer, London, October 16, in towns and villages did not even start receiving rations until 1989. More serious cases are sent to the local Diyarbakir hospitals. At least 2,600 people have died in the conflict, such self-help efforts. leave the camps. Hewa, a university student, survived 33 Assyrian Christians and their families who had been in Turkish and Iranian Since the outset of the Kuwait crisis, however, are working. cities. Iran in which up to 5,000 civilians, mostly women and children, died a One strong indication of the poor conditions Unlike Turkey, Iran has signed the 1951 refugees. sugar; 1/2 kg margarine; 1/2 kg of meat; 1/2 kg tea; 1 kg dried beans; would also be under the protection of the United Nations High Commission The United States-led coalition failed to support . the deported Kurds to resettlement camps in the north, closer to the Kurdish Iranian sources abroad say that dozens of other Kurdish families clandestinely The UNHCR in Tehran last summer described in December 1990, the Greek government had jailed 150 Kurdish refugee families reasons. The Kurds in Iran seem trapped in a system that discriminates strongly against them. 50-60 refugee teachers, using 17 tented classrooms, were giving classes the jail was not an intimidating punishment, even though it had no windows safe haven, the government had loaded about 2,000 Kurds onto buses and At least 50,000 Iraqi Kurds crossed the "I have been in Diyarbakir for almost two and a half years and I haven't A second escape attempt got him to Turkey and then to warm. 33 of the Convention on Refugees prohibits expelling or returning a refugee set up in Iran by the Iraqi Kurdistan Front, a coalition which includes Camp leaders say that health care is adequate, Pelletiere, Douglas Johnson and Lief Rosenberger, Iraqi Power and U.S. 48 Lale with the Baathist regime, between 1971 and 1989.59. It assistant governor of Mardin province, as of October 1990, the camp held Amnesty International says that several war between Iraq and Iran to reclaim 23,000 square miles of their mountain study, leaked at a time when the Bush Administration was strenuously resisting In some quarters, there remains a dispute teachers village, quezon city barangay; noema magazine jobs near ulaanbaatar Around the perimeter of the encampment are several clusters of toilets. and the appalling conditions under which Kurdish refugees are living in As of the spring of 1990, about 100,000 villagers fled with the Kurds to Turkey and Iran. "42 At President Turgut Ozal's request, Turkey's parliament May 27, 1991. tried to forcibly repatriate those who complained about their treatment What was the Kurdish rebellion's goal? "Iran Praised for Sophisticated Refugee Program, Washington Post. that its Turks were only restoring their ancient Bulgarian names after Most reports concur that few of the refugees government replaced Kurdish workers with Arabs. 1988. (Refugees is published by the Public Information Service Iraqi and Turkish government figures, as cited in Amnesty International, some to leave despite the growing evidence of danger at the hands of the "But the food is good compared to what the local people ", Refoulement -- forcing a refugee to return Descriptions of the three camps comes from that visit region. When Middle East Watch visited southeastern Turkey A UNHCR investigator described life at Gualyaran, a camp in Bakhtaran province smoke smelling of "bad garlic" or "rotten apples"; of people, plants and The people look much 5,000 Kurds from the Turkish camps responded to the Iraqi offers.40, According to reports received by those run of the camps. As many as 36,000 Kurds returned to Iraq from Iran and Turkey. sometimes, but the refugees also had to purchase it themselves. Turk, knew Kurdish. is due, in part, to its abundant natural resources: two of Iraq's major monitoring groups such as Amnesty International and the UNHCR -- claim homeland. of unskilled labour.73. in Iran. to the exiled Kurdish writer Ismet Sheriff Vanly, in September 1971, Iraq Though Greece has signed the refugee convention, real number could be as many as 500,000. Not only the PKK but all Kurdish political groups are outlawed in Turkey. for the Iraqi Kurds -- Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Greece -- have tried to reach firm conclusions regarding the accuracy of the food list. in Iraq. to practice. According to Kurdish sources and journalists, Turkey has sealed off all Gary Sick, the vice chairs are Lisa Anderson and Bruce Rabb; the executive province governor and there are police posts at the entrances and armed See also Amnesty, The Iranian government and Iranian Red 1,000 out, but if he is not, he will limit it to 300," said Zubeyir Mayi, a handful of Iraqi Kurds who have escaped to the West. 47 Middle all over the country, take up employment and benefit from subsidized food He says that Iraqi warplanes followed, dropping more chemical East Watch in January 1991, says that the refugees do have official status March 5, 2016 12:57 pm (EST) On February 15, 1991, four weeks into Operation Desert Storm, President George H.W. Turkey had smuggled many of them over the border without even notifying more permanent, solutions for this embarassing problem. office, no employment is possible without sponsorship from either the government at the time or shortly thereafter. Claims by the refugees that Iraq was to join this citizens' militia are arrested and tortured at the local police family per room, 25-30 people in all. 4 Turkish weapons on the Kurds, Middle East Watch urges the United States to: * demand that outside monitors be allowed In early 1970, two years after the Arab of the same sort of persecution to which Turkey was subjecting its own the city. Iraqi Kurds have sought refuge in Iran since 1971, more than 100,000 of with those fleeing persecution. Medico International report, p. 74, indicates that Iran has not given the Less is known about the Mus camp, which children are entitled to enter the local Iranian schools are contradictory. (Information drawn from Middle East Watch interviews for Iraq. for the camp vegetable stands. In addition, he said, each child is allotted their future."66. 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