Monday, September 17, 2012
Warfare intensifies in Turkey
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Van earthquake!
I have not had access to internet in many days so I write very late about the earthquake in Van. Dear friends in Van, our thoughts are with you. Let's hope that you get all the necessary help and assistance to continue your lives after this tragedy.
Also, it is important that the international community and the friends of Kurds follow the situation so that the Turkish state is not using this accident like an opportunity to increase the oppression towards the Kurdish liberation movement.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Genocide research needs a good plan
The Anfal Campaign happened twenty three years ago. No time should be wasted in documenting it: now people still remember details of Anfal but they forget more and more as the time is passing.
Collection of the memories must be done in a systematic way. My experience is that members of the Anfal families have a big need to talk about their experiences. And of course it is important that someone listens them. But research interviews must be done according a systematic plan and the target of the research must be clear.
With all the respect to Kurdish activists who document Anfal: my experience of their work is that often the main focus is to express how horrible thing Anfal was. We all agree about this. Academic research has other targets, it goes deeper. Art expresses feelings and emotions, scientific research facts. There is need for both of them. If the KRG wants Anfal to be accepted internationally as a genocide, the artistic methods are not enough despite they help the Kurds to go further in the healing process. There is need to present hard facts by academic research which is done according to international standards.
In 1918 there was a few months long civil war in my native country Finland after it had got her independence. The civil war still affects the country. New research, books, and movies are being made all the time.
The Kurdish genocide is much bigger issue than the Finnish civil war. The Kurds will document, survey and express their feelings about it for generations by methods of art, research, and civil society activities. Many different methods are necessary. Some of them are spontanous. But academic research, to be internationally respected, should not be spontanous or local. There must be a good plan to decide the priorities of the research.
And when the plan is ready, there must be enough of economical resources to make it true.
This text was published is Asos newspaper in Sulaymaniyah in Sebtember 2011.
Collection of the memories must be done in a systematic way. My experience is that members of the Anfal families have a big need to talk about their experiences. And of course it is important that someone listens them. But research interviews must be done according a systematic plan and the target of the research must be clear.
With all the respect to Kurdish activists who document Anfal: my experience of their work is that often the main focus is to express how horrible thing Anfal was. We all agree about this. Academic research has other targets, it goes deeper. Art expresses feelings and emotions, scientific research facts. There is need for both of them. If the KRG wants Anfal to be accepted internationally as a genocide, the artistic methods are not enough despite they help the Kurds to go further in the healing process. There is need to present hard facts by academic research which is done according to international standards.
In 1918 there was a few months long civil war in my native country Finland after it had got her independence. The civil war still affects the country. New research, books, and movies are being made all the time.
The Kurdish genocide is much bigger issue than the Finnish civil war. The Kurds will document, survey and express their feelings about it for generations by methods of art, research, and civil society activities. Many different methods are necessary. Some of them are spontanous. But academic research, to be internationally respected, should not be spontanous or local. There must be a good plan to decide the priorities of the research.
And when the plan is ready, there must be enough of economical resources to make it true.
This text was published is Asos newspaper in Sulaymaniyah in Sebtember 2011.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Fadime Sahindahl's grave
She was shot dead by her father in so called "honour killing". As I spend this summer in Uppsala I searched her grave.
It is in the old graveyard near the Cathedral.
The grave is easy to find because there are maps in the grave yard showing where are the graves of famous persons.
In the small grave stone is picture of a pigeon and two hands. Symbol for peace. There is also a small stone heart in her grave.
Photos: Kristiina Koivunen
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Can Kurdish leaders use the next historical opportunity?
Recent news from the Middle East reflects a widespread need for changes. The Kurds are famous for being culturally divided and unable to cooperate with each other. Now the new mass media increases their awareness of democracy and the life of other Kurds. This is a historical opportunity.
To understand the complicated situation of the Kurds, it is necessary to look at the history. After almost two thousand years of Persian rule, most of the Kurds became part of the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. This was the first division of Kurdistan. After that, Ottoman Sultan Selim officially recognised sixteen Kurdish emirates. For centuries, these autonomous emirates were culturally, linguistically and religiously rich.
This text was published in Asos newspaper the 18th May 2011. It is in Kurdish here:
http://www.xendan.org/drejaWtar.aspx?NusarID=167&Jmara=3040
During the Ottoman times the Kurds lacked national identity. They did not identify themselves as Kurds but as members of their family, tribe and religious group. They were in a proto-national stage. Dr. Eric Hobsbawm uses this term to describe an ethnic group’s development towards nationalism. Although the group feels that they belong together because of their mutual ethnicity, they lack a common polity. It is possible to mobilise the existing national symbols for the creation of a modern state.
In the course of the fall and the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, most of its subject peoples were able to set up their own states, but not the Kurds. With the Treaty of Sevrés, which was signed on August 20, 1920, the Kurds were promised a homeland. But the Allies, led by Great Britain and France, knew that the implementation of the Treaty would require difficult military enforcement. They were not prepared to make this commitment. The Treaty of Sevrés was a historical opportunity but the Kurdish leaders were unable to benefit of it.
The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, was the international accord, with which the Republic of Turkey was established. The word ‘Kurd’ was not even mentioned in it. Kurds were not regarded as a minority group. References to minorities were limited to non-Muslims. This was the second division of Kurdistan.
Also Iraq was established after World War I. Under a mandate from the League of Nations, the administration of Iraq was entrusted to Britain, but it adopted a policy of devolving responsibilities to an Iraqi government in 1921.
From 1918 to 1925, the Kurds lost an opportunity for statehood. They found themselves to be an unrecognised minority in Turkey and in Iraq. The Kurdish question became a frozen conflict. All the problems were left without solution, waiting for the right moment for the conflict to appear again. Now, this seems to happen. On the one hand, the Kurds move towards nationalism from proto-national level. Due to electronic mass media, satellite TV and the Internet – and especially social media like Facebook – they get information about each other and about global developments, which was totally out of their reach at the beginning of the last century. The Kurdish culture in Iraq is the most traditional and the most tribal. The Iranian Kurds are the best educated Kurds. The Kurds who live in Turkey are the most modern and the most aware in political terms, but many of them are partly assimilated into the Turkish culture. For example, many have lost their Kurdish mother tongue.
The young generation of Kurds continues the nation-building process from the point at which their grandfathers froze the issue after the days of Lausanne. On the other hand, new historic opportunities are emerging because all parts of Kurdistan are controlled by countries that are moving towards radical changes.
Since the end of the 19th century, the problem of the Kurds has been their inability to cooperate with each other. Kurdish politics is local politics. The Kurds have been rebelling against their oppressors for decades, but their uprisings have been local.
In 1991 three Kurdish provinces in South Kurdistan got autonomy after the First Gulf War in the uprising Raperin. But three Kurdish provinces - Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala - were left outside the autonomous region. This was again a historical opportunity what the Kurdish leaders could not use. Twenty years have passed without much improvement despite United Nations decided referendum which is known as Article 140 according its status in the Iraqi constitution. If the referendum is not arranged this will be the third division of Kurdistan.
In the 1920s, Kurdish leaders could not make use of the historic opportunities, which were available during the collapse process of the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the next opportunity for the Kurds might come up soon. Dramatic changes may take place in the Middle East in the near future, taking into account the situations in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran and in Syria. Especially the future of Iraq after the removal of the American troops is unclear.
Parag Khanna, former election advisor of Barack Obama and current director of the Global Governance Initiative, predicted 2008 that Kurds would get independent state in 2016 and 20 000 American troops would be stationed in Kurdistan by that time. He describes this vision in his book "The Second World : Empires and Influence in the New Global Order". Khanna argues that Kurdish oil and gas especially could play a desicive role in supporting the independence. Europe wants to decrease its dependency on Russian gas. Kurdish gas reserves of three to six trillion cubic meters is the source to replace the Russian gas. There is plan to build the Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria to transport the Kurdish gas to Europe.
All big Kurdish parties in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey concentrate on the situation of their own geographical area. They do not have a common national agenda. However, many young Kurds - the Facebook-generation - speak about a ‘Great Kurdistan’, meaning the unification of all four parts of Kurdistan. Yet there is no movement pushing for it, except for homepages on the Internet and on Facebook.
Kurdish leaders carry a big responsibility. Can they make cooperation? Can they use the historic opportunity, which seem to be available only once in a century? Only time will tell. I am sorry to say that at the moment the situation does not look good at least here in Sulaymania: Kurds struggle with each others the same way as they have done centuries instead of learning the modern skills of negotiation. This would benefit all Kurds in defending themselves against the neighbouring states. The plan to build the Nabucco pipeline or any other outside effort does not solve the Kurdish question if the Kurds can not cooperate with each others. Instead I have heard rumors that now they obtain more guns.
One thing is clear: problems, uprisings and struggles continue until a solution is found to the Kurdish question. In North Ireland, the struggle between the Irish and the British has already continued for seven hundred years. Let us hope that the Kurdish question will not remain unsolved for so long. It is a permanent source of instability in the whole Middle East until a political solution is found.
To understand the complicated situation of the Kurds, it is necessary to look at the history. After almost two thousand years of Persian rule, most of the Kurds became part of the Ottoman Empire as a result of the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. This was the first division of Kurdistan. After that, Ottoman Sultan Selim officially recognised sixteen Kurdish emirates. For centuries, these autonomous emirates were culturally, linguistically and religiously rich.
This text was published in Asos newspaper the 18th May 2011. It is in Kurdish here:
http://www.xendan.org/drejaWtar.aspx?NusarID=167&Jmara=3040
During the Ottoman times the Kurds lacked national identity. They did not identify themselves as Kurds but as members of their family, tribe and religious group. They were in a proto-national stage. Dr. Eric Hobsbawm uses this term to describe an ethnic group’s development towards nationalism. Although the group feels that they belong together because of their mutual ethnicity, they lack a common polity. It is possible to mobilise the existing national symbols for the creation of a modern state.
In the course of the fall and the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, most of its subject peoples were able to set up their own states, but not the Kurds. With the Treaty of Sevrés, which was signed on August 20, 1920, the Kurds were promised a homeland. But the Allies, led by Great Britain and France, knew that the implementation of the Treaty would require difficult military enforcement. They were not prepared to make this commitment. The Treaty of Sevrés was a historical opportunity but the Kurdish leaders were unable to benefit of it.
The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, was the international accord, with which the Republic of Turkey was established. The word ‘Kurd’ was not even mentioned in it. Kurds were not regarded as a minority group. References to minorities were limited to non-Muslims. This was the second division of Kurdistan.
Also Iraq was established after World War I. Under a mandate from the League of Nations, the administration of Iraq was entrusted to Britain, but it adopted a policy of devolving responsibilities to an Iraqi government in 1921.
From 1918 to 1925, the Kurds lost an opportunity for statehood. They found themselves to be an unrecognised minority in Turkey and in Iraq. The Kurdish question became a frozen conflict. All the problems were left without solution, waiting for the right moment for the conflict to appear again. Now, this seems to happen. On the one hand, the Kurds move towards nationalism from proto-national level. Due to electronic mass media, satellite TV and the Internet – and especially social media like Facebook – they get information about each other and about global developments, which was totally out of their reach at the beginning of the last century. The Kurdish culture in Iraq is the most traditional and the most tribal. The Iranian Kurds are the best educated Kurds. The Kurds who live in Turkey are the most modern and the most aware in political terms, but many of them are partly assimilated into the Turkish culture. For example, many have lost their Kurdish mother tongue.
The young generation of Kurds continues the nation-building process from the point at which their grandfathers froze the issue after the days of Lausanne. On the other hand, new historic opportunities are emerging because all parts of Kurdistan are controlled by countries that are moving towards radical changes.
Since the end of the 19th century, the problem of the Kurds has been their inability to cooperate with each other. Kurdish politics is local politics. The Kurds have been rebelling against their oppressors for decades, but their uprisings have been local.
In 1991 three Kurdish provinces in South Kurdistan got autonomy after the First Gulf War in the uprising Raperin. But three Kurdish provinces - Mosul, Kirkuk and Diyala - were left outside the autonomous region. This was again a historical opportunity what the Kurdish leaders could not use. Twenty years have passed without much improvement despite United Nations decided referendum which is known as Article 140 according its status in the Iraqi constitution. If the referendum is not arranged this will be the third division of Kurdistan.
In the 1920s, Kurdish leaders could not make use of the historic opportunities, which were available during the collapse process of the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the next opportunity for the Kurds might come up soon. Dramatic changes may take place in the Middle East in the near future, taking into account the situations in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran and in Syria. Especially the future of Iraq after the removal of the American troops is unclear.
Parag Khanna, former election advisor of Barack Obama and current director of the Global Governance Initiative, predicted 2008 that Kurds would get independent state in 2016 and 20 000 American troops would be stationed in Kurdistan by that time. He describes this vision in his book "The Second World : Empires and Influence in the New Global Order". Khanna argues that Kurdish oil and gas especially could play a desicive role in supporting the independence. Europe wants to decrease its dependency on Russian gas. Kurdish gas reserves of three to six trillion cubic meters is the source to replace the Russian gas. There is plan to build the Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria to transport the Kurdish gas to Europe.
All big Kurdish parties in Iraq, Iran, and Turkey concentrate on the situation of their own geographical area. They do not have a common national agenda. However, many young Kurds - the Facebook-generation - speak about a ‘Great Kurdistan’, meaning the unification of all four parts of Kurdistan. Yet there is no movement pushing for it, except for homepages on the Internet and on Facebook.
Kurdish leaders carry a big responsibility. Can they make cooperation? Can they use the historic opportunity, which seem to be available only once in a century? Only time will tell. I am sorry to say that at the moment the situation does not look good at least here in Sulaymania: Kurds struggle with each others the same way as they have done centuries instead of learning the modern skills of negotiation. This would benefit all Kurds in defending themselves against the neighbouring states. The plan to build the Nabucco pipeline or any other outside effort does not solve the Kurdish question if the Kurds can not cooperate with each others. Instead I have heard rumors that now they obtain more guns.
One thing is clear: problems, uprisings and struggles continue until a solution is found to the Kurdish question. In North Ireland, the struggle between the Irish and the British has already continued for seven hundred years. Let us hope that the Kurdish question will not remain unsolved for so long. It is a permanent source of instability in the whole Middle East until a political solution is found.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Kurdistan needs research policy
Kurdistan is going through a transition period. It is post-dictatorship and post-genocide society. It has experienced rapid and violent change from rural way of living to urban settlements. In the 1980s people did not move voluntarily to towns. They were deported by Saddam’s soldiers. Since that many problems have followed each others.
KRG has difficult work to rebuild Kurdistan from ruins caused by Saddam’s dictatorship, several wars, international embargo and increasing tension with the Baghdad government. Problems are not yet over, one of biggest problems is the situation in the disputed areas.
When searching for a solution the first thing is to understand the problem in details.
In other countries universities are centers for research and education. Teachers follow the latest development in their field and distribute the information to their students. When students graduate they bring fresh information to their working places.
During the Ba’athist times universities in Iraq were opposite to this model. They educated staff for the government’s needs and followed Saddam’s rules. The little research what existed here was strictly under Saddam’s control.
Despite almost twenty years of autonomy KRG has not been able to create new research policy to replace the old model. All agree about the problems of the universities. There are reasons for them. International embargo isolated Iraqi universities and prevented the staff from getting fresh ideas. Another problem is huge brain drain. Many intellectuals escaped from Iraq during three decades and now their skills benefit Europe instead of their own country.
It is difficult to establish research policy from point zero but it is the only way to find long term solutions to the present problems. I give two examples: the situation of the youth and disagreements about the disputed areas.
In other countries there is youth research. Politicians make their decisions about education based on information.
Kurdish teenagers grow up in difficult conditions: their parents had experienced destruction of the villages. Their childhood was unsecure because of the civil war between the Kurdish parties. Present problems and lack of motivation for studies are reflections of this history.
KRG demands implementation of Article 140. It claims the Kurdish history of Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Yet there is no research about it done according international academic standards.
There is need for research about these two subjects and many other things. It is not question of employing some skillful researchers or establishing some projects. There is need for Kurdish research policy with a wide political agreement about its long perspective goals and priorities. It must have enough of funding. The work should start by establishing a committee where participants are both politicians and researchers.
This text has been published in Aso newspaper in Sulaymania the 8th February 2011.
KRG has difficult work to rebuild Kurdistan from ruins caused by Saddam’s dictatorship, several wars, international embargo and increasing tension with the Baghdad government. Problems are not yet over, one of biggest problems is the situation in the disputed areas.
When searching for a solution the first thing is to understand the problem in details.
In other countries universities are centers for research and education. Teachers follow the latest development in their field and distribute the information to their students. When students graduate they bring fresh information to their working places.
During the Ba’athist times universities in Iraq were opposite to this model. They educated staff for the government’s needs and followed Saddam’s rules. The little research what existed here was strictly under Saddam’s control.
Despite almost twenty years of autonomy KRG has not been able to create new research policy to replace the old model. All agree about the problems of the universities. There are reasons for them. International embargo isolated Iraqi universities and prevented the staff from getting fresh ideas. Another problem is huge brain drain. Many intellectuals escaped from Iraq during three decades and now their skills benefit Europe instead of their own country.
It is difficult to establish research policy from point zero but it is the only way to find long term solutions to the present problems. I give two examples: the situation of the youth and disagreements about the disputed areas.
In other countries there is youth research. Politicians make their decisions about education based on information.
Kurdish teenagers grow up in difficult conditions: their parents had experienced destruction of the villages. Their childhood was unsecure because of the civil war between the Kurdish parties. Present problems and lack of motivation for studies are reflections of this history.
KRG demands implementation of Article 140. It claims the Kurdish history of Kirkuk and other disputed areas. Yet there is no research about it done according international academic standards.
There is need for research about these two subjects and many other things. It is not question of employing some skillful researchers or establishing some projects. There is need for Kurdish research policy with a wide political agreement about its long perspective goals and priorities. It must have enough of funding. The work should start by establishing a committee where participants are both politicians and researchers.
This text has been published in Aso newspaper in Sulaymania the 8th February 2011.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Newroz piroz be!
HAPPY NEWROZ TO EVERY ONE !
I HAVE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH MY OLD LAP TOP SO I CAN NOT PUT ANY PHOTO HERE.
I HAVE TECHNICAL PROBLEMS WITH MY OLD LAP TOP SO I CAN NOT PUT ANY PHOTO HERE.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The last flight of captain Hampton
American girl Kimberly Hampton from South Caroline was the only child in her family and talented tennis player. Success in tennis opened for her doors to college. After that she choose military to be able to do her dream work, to be a helicopter pilot.
After her training Hampton worked two years in South Korea, and then a short time in Afghanistan. She travelled to Iraq in September 2003. After less than four months, the second January 2004, the helicopter which Hampton was driving, was shot down in Fallujah in Central Iraq.
Kimberly Hampton made history. She was the first American woman who has died in war as a military pilot. She was 27 years old when she died. Her military rank was captain.
The families of the fallen soldiers are active in Facebook and elsewhere in internet.
The Friends of Captain Hampton collect memories of her in Facebook and her mother Ann Lewis Hampton also has there a page. There is also a memorial foundation for her.
Ann Lewis Hampton and a group of other Golden Star Mothers (American women whose child has died in war) travelled to Iraq in autumn 2010. Their dream was to visit the place where their son or daughter had died, but it did not come true. They spent whole their one week long journey in Kurdistan where no American soldier has died during the Iraqi war.
Ann Lewis Hampton got a new friend during her journey: Dilpak Tahir. They are bound to each others by a personal loss due to war.
Dilpak Tahir
Dilpak's husbabd Karim Osman was peshmerga who disappeared in September 1996 during the civil war between PUK and KDP. Dilpak does not know when and where her husband died and where his body is.
To express her thanks that Ann Lewis Hampton travelled to Iraq and to respect her daughter's memory Dilpak established a memorial place for Kimberly in Dokan near Sulaymania. In Christmas Eve 2010 Dilpak carried there a Christmas tree with her friends.
The story of Kimberly Hampton is only one of the many. More than five thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq since 2003.
Photos: Kristiina Koivunen
After her training Hampton worked two years in South Korea, and then a short time in Afghanistan. She travelled to Iraq in September 2003. After less than four months, the second January 2004, the helicopter which Hampton was driving, was shot down in Fallujah in Central Iraq.
Kimberly Hampton made history. She was the first American woman who has died in war as a military pilot. She was 27 years old when she died. Her military rank was captain.
The families of the fallen soldiers are active in Facebook and elsewhere in internet.
The Friends of Captain Hampton collect memories of her in Facebook and her mother Ann Lewis Hampton also has there a page. There is also a memorial foundation for her.
Ann Lewis Hampton and a group of other Golden Star Mothers (American women whose child has died in war) travelled to Iraq in autumn 2010. Their dream was to visit the place where their son or daughter had died, but it did not come true. They spent whole their one week long journey in Kurdistan where no American soldier has died during the Iraqi war.
Ann Lewis Hampton got a new friend during her journey: Dilpak Tahir. They are bound to each others by a personal loss due to war.
Dilpak Tahir
Dilpak's husbabd Karim Osman was peshmerga who disappeared in September 1996 during the civil war between PUK and KDP. Dilpak does not know when and where her husband died and where his body is.
To express her thanks that Ann Lewis Hampton travelled to Iraq and to respect her daughter's memory Dilpak established a memorial place for Kimberly in Dokan near Sulaymania. In Christmas Eve 2010 Dilpak carried there a Christmas tree with her friends.
The story of Kimberly Hampton is only one of the many. More than five thousand American soldiers have died in Iraq since 2003.
Photos: Kristiina Koivunen
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Foreign teachers view on Kurdish universities
I have worked almost two years as a university teacher in Kurdistan.
Kurds ask me how are universities in other countries. When I am in my native country Finland, people ask about the Kurdish universities.
Well. everything is totally different.
In Finland it is very difficult to get a study place. Young people work hard to get inside a university. Many teenagers study several years to succee in the entrance exam. When they start their studies, they take it seriously. Everybody makes Master's degree, with Bachelor's diploma one can not get work in Finland.
In Kurdistan it is the opposite. Young people see it as their right to go the university and get everything free of charge. Finnish students pay for everything: university fees, books, dormitory. They get a stipend from the government which covers about half of living costs. For the other half they borrow money from bank or work in the evenings. Rich parents give money to their children. But the general opinion is that parents are not responsible for children when they became 18 years old.
The Finnish students behave like adults and the Kurdish ones like children.
In Kurdish universities we start every lesson by checking from name lists which students are present. Exams must be arranged so that students can not look at each others' papers. In European universities there is no need for such control.
When I criticize Kurds I always emphasize that I do not want to blame the victim. People lack a sense of responsibility but there are reasons for that.
Sometimes when I get angry with my students I say to them that they behave like children in kindergarten.
"We did not have possibility to go to kindergarten when we were small, so we need such an experience now", one of them answered once.
I think that is the point. Teenagers, and even older generations, have grown up in war conditions. They did not get the feeling of basic security what children usually get in an early stage of their development.
Now KRG tries to compensate this lack to the student generation. But universities are not a healing system. The future of Kurdistan depends on how the new generations are educated. Is the system creative and encouraging young people to develop this country?
I visited recently Estland which got 1991 indepency when Soviet Union collapsed. In nineteen years Estonian people have created a high quality education system also according to the international standards.
I asked in an university how it was in the beginning.
"When we got independency, all people were happy and eager to develop our country. Teachers stayed in the universities until late evenings and they did not have any holidays in several years", one Estonian teacher told me.
I can not remember seing such an athmosphere even once in Kurdish universities.
++++
This text has been published in Asos newspapar in Sulaymania.
Kurds ask me how are universities in other countries. When I am in my native country Finland, people ask about the Kurdish universities.
Well. everything is totally different.
In Finland it is very difficult to get a study place. Young people work hard to get inside a university. Many teenagers study several years to succee in the entrance exam. When they start their studies, they take it seriously. Everybody makes Master's degree, with Bachelor's diploma one can not get work in Finland.
In Kurdistan it is the opposite. Young people see it as their right to go the university and get everything free of charge. Finnish students pay for everything: university fees, books, dormitory. They get a stipend from the government which covers about half of living costs. For the other half they borrow money from bank or work in the evenings. Rich parents give money to their children. But the general opinion is that parents are not responsible for children when they became 18 years old.
The Finnish students behave like adults and the Kurdish ones like children.
In Kurdish universities we start every lesson by checking from name lists which students are present. Exams must be arranged so that students can not look at each others' papers. In European universities there is no need for such control.
When I criticize Kurds I always emphasize that I do not want to blame the victim. People lack a sense of responsibility but there are reasons for that.
Sometimes when I get angry with my students I say to them that they behave like children in kindergarten.
"We did not have possibility to go to kindergarten when we were small, so we need such an experience now", one of them answered once.
I think that is the point. Teenagers, and even older generations, have grown up in war conditions. They did not get the feeling of basic security what children usually get in an early stage of their development.
Now KRG tries to compensate this lack to the student generation. But universities are not a healing system. The future of Kurdistan depends on how the new generations are educated. Is the system creative and encouraging young people to develop this country?
I visited recently Estland which got 1991 indepency when Soviet Union collapsed. In nineteen years Estonian people have created a high quality education system also according to the international standards.
I asked in an university how it was in the beginning.
"When we got independency, all people were happy and eager to develop our country. Teachers stayed in the universities until late evenings and they did not have any holidays in several years", one Estonian teacher told me.
I can not remember seing such an athmosphere even once in Kurdish universities.
++++
This text has been published in Asos newspapar in Sulaymania.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Kirkuk photo exhibition in Finland
I have visited Kirkuk almost twenty times since spring 2008.
During these journeys I have taken hundreads of photos. I choose best of them to a photo exhibition in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.
The exhibition is open two weeks from Monday, the 16th August, in STOA, a cultural centre of City of Helsinki. Later the photos will be shown in other places and in Kurdish cultural events.
The exhibition consists of seventeen large pictures.
The name of the exhibition is ”Everyday life in Kirkuk in the shadow of war” (in Finnish language the name is much shorter).
Many people have asked what I want to say with my photos.
The news about Kirkuk in international mass media tell about bomb explosions, war and other problems.
I have seen another Kirkuk. Despite fear and tension the brave Kirkuk people try to make best of their every day life and look forward for a better future.
Many people have helped me in Kirkuk to collect information about the town. With this exhibition I want to express my gratitude for them.
Many people in Kirkuk have repeated the same thing: the problems of Kirkuk are organized from outside Kirkuk, from the neighbouring countries. Kirkuk has been centuries a multicultural city. Various ethnic groups have lived there in peace and harmony with each others.
So should be also the future of Kirkuk! With my pictures I want to show Finnish people a glimpse of optimism about Kirkuk.
On Monday the 16th August fifty people participated the opening party of the exhibition. There were Kurdish people residing in Finland and their Finnish friends.
The Kurdish community in Finland has good relationship with Finnish people. They make together both cultural and political activities.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Genocide process continues in disputed areas
When Kurds speak about the Kurdish genocide, they usually mean the Anfal. But the Anfal is just the peak of it. Genocide is a long process which develops step by step from ”milder” forms to massacres and total annihilation of the target group.
One genocidal method which Saddam Hussein used was deportation. Almost all Kurdish villages were burnt and villagers were forced to move to cities and towns. In Kirkuk the Ba'athist regime deported 200 000 Kurds.
It practised also statistical falsification to make the Kurdish proportion of population to look smaller. Because of this target Kirkuk province was divided to several provinces. This is statistical genocide.
Instability continues in Kirkuk, Mosul and elsewhere in the disputed areas. It is called terrorism and security problem. But we must speak with correct terms: Sunni Islamist terrorism in disputed areas continues the Ba'athist genocide process.
The target of referendum as described in Article 140 is to correct the effects of deportation and to let people to decide whether they want to return to the pre-Ba'athist situation.
Due to delay of the referendum situation in the disputed areas remains unclear. Reconstruction of buildings and public services is delayed. It is difficult for deported people to return to their home areas.
And not just this: people still escape from the disputed areas, especially from Mosul province. Bomb explosions occur in areas where the inhabitants belong to ethnic or religious minorities. Terrorists attack Yezidis, Kakais and Assyrians. People escape to safe areas controlled by KRG or to Europe. One by one, not in such massive operations than during the Saddam days.
But the effect is the same: when Christian and Yezidi families leave, Arabization continues in areas which have been centuries multi-cultural and multi-religious. This is one step in the genocide process, not just terrorism. When Al Qaida makes bomb explosions in other countries it does not lead to deportation of some people from their homes. The damages of terrorist attacks are repaired and life returns back to normal.
International community must regocnize the true character of terrorism in the disputed areas as a genocidal process, not call it just a security problem. The Kurdish genocide in Mosul and Kirkuk started during the 1920s. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed Britain took part of it as its colony. It could not decide what to do with Mosul and Kirkuk. So nowadays Britain has a historical responsiblity to search a permanent solution to stop the genocidal process in the disputed areas.
One genocidal method which Saddam Hussein used was deportation. Almost all Kurdish villages were burnt and villagers were forced to move to cities and towns. In Kirkuk the Ba'athist regime deported 200 000 Kurds.
It practised also statistical falsification to make the Kurdish proportion of population to look smaller. Because of this target Kirkuk province was divided to several provinces. This is statistical genocide.
Instability continues in Kirkuk, Mosul and elsewhere in the disputed areas. It is called terrorism and security problem. But we must speak with correct terms: Sunni Islamist terrorism in disputed areas continues the Ba'athist genocide process.
The target of referendum as described in Article 140 is to correct the effects of deportation and to let people to decide whether they want to return to the pre-Ba'athist situation.
Due to delay of the referendum situation in the disputed areas remains unclear. Reconstruction of buildings and public services is delayed. It is difficult for deported people to return to their home areas.
And not just this: people still escape from the disputed areas, especially from Mosul province. Bomb explosions occur in areas where the inhabitants belong to ethnic or religious minorities. Terrorists attack Yezidis, Kakais and Assyrians. People escape to safe areas controlled by KRG or to Europe. One by one, not in such massive operations than during the Saddam days.
But the effect is the same: when Christian and Yezidi families leave, Arabization continues in areas which have been centuries multi-cultural and multi-religious. This is one step in the genocide process, not just terrorism. When Al Qaida makes bomb explosions in other countries it does not lead to deportation of some people from their homes. The damages of terrorist attacks are repaired and life returns back to normal.
International community must regocnize the true character of terrorism in the disputed areas as a genocidal process, not call it just a security problem. The Kurdish genocide in Mosul and Kirkuk started during the 1920s. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed Britain took part of it as its colony. It could not decide what to do with Mosul and Kirkuk. So nowadays Britain has a historical responsiblity to search a permanent solution to stop the genocidal process in the disputed areas.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Iraqi Kurdistan is a post-genocidal society
Photo: Chamachamal the 13th April 2010.
In April Kurdistan was mourning the anniversary of the Anfal. There were ceremonies in many places, for example in Chamchamal and in Kalar. In these ceremonies and in mass media the symbol of the Anfal was pictures of Anfal widows, women in black clothes with a permanent sorrow on their face.
Their destiny is horrible. But when news about the Anfal are always visualised by pictures of Anfal families, it gives audience a false idea that the Anfal affected only those families who lost their members. A genocide affects the whole society for a very long time, for many generations. The pain of mother whose child disappeared is easy to see. But the wider effects of the Anfal are hidden. They have an impact on all Kurds. Kurdistan is a post-genocidal society.
182 000 Kurds were murdered in the Anfal campaign. Their destiny is a crime which must be surveyed in criminal investigations. Effects of the Anfal on the Kurdish society is another issue. Mass media shows the Anfal usually as the dissappearance of a huge amount of people but it is also other atrocities. Many villages were burnt in spring 1988. Villagers who survived the Anfal, were forced to leave their homes. They were deported to towns.
They are also victims of the Anfal. Their situation must be understood. I do not mean "that the KRG must help them" as people here in Kurdistan say about every problem. When Kurdish villages were destroyed, a huge amount of Kurdish culture and knowledge disappeared.
Until the end of 1980s Kurds were active producers. Kurdish villages were self-sufficient, they could produce everything by methods which had been passed from generation to generation for decades, maybe for centuries. Knowledge which was suitable especially to Kurdistan's conditions.
Autoritarian regimes want to make people passive and dependent of the state. Also the Baath regime behaved this way. When Saddam deported Kurds to central villages his target was to prevent Kurds producing their food themselves and make them dependent of the government.
The Ba'ath regime is gone, but Kurds have not become self-sufficient. They are dependent of another government, the KRG. Active producer society has turned into a passive consumer society and food is imported from abroad.
How to change the situation?
People demand help from KRG to every problem. But this way of thinking is not the solution, it is part of the problem. People must solve the problems by themselves, not wait that some one provides ready solutions.
I know this is huge task. And it is not the fault of Kurds that Baath regime destroyed their production systems and society.
There is need for wide perspective research about the effects of the Anfal, not only documentation of the atrocities. It is the only way to understand all effects of the Anfal. It is the first step in searching solutions to problems of a post-genocidal society.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Photos from Wezê
In my previous post I wrote how Iranian shelling destroys the Rawand culture in Kurdistan of Iraq. I put here some photos from Wezê village.
Villagers in Weze say that Iranians shells only agricultural areas. They don't dig here vegetables but pieces of Iranian rockets in their tomato field.
13 years old Basoz Jabhar Agha (who was murdered by the Iranian army the 30th May 2010) in the middle in the first line, in brown dress.
Basoz Jabhar Agha's sister shows a family album.
Aisha Abdullah continues to plant tomatoes two weeks after the death of her grand daughter Basoz Jabhar Agha.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Iranian shelling destroys the Rawand culture
Since 1991 Iran has been shelling Iraqi Kurdistan almost every spring. Shelling starts when farmers and Rawand people arrive to the mountains for agricultural work. The Rawand people are half nomads who spend winters in the plain lands and summers in the mountains.
On Sunday the 12th June 2010 I travelled to Wezê village near Choman to get information about the shelling of this year.
In this village thirteen years old Basoz Jahbar Agha was killed by Iranian rocket the 30th May. I met her grand mother Aisha Abdullah.
“At that day a group of teenager girls planted tomatoes on a mountain field. She had made a fire to prepare tea at 9.30 AM”, told Aisha Abdullah.
I met in Choman Kaymakan Abdul Wahid Gowani. He told that he meets often representatives of the Iranian state. Iranians say always that they shell PJAK guerrillas and enemies of Iran.
"How ever, they have killed only Kurdish civilians”, said Abdul Wahid Gowani.
“When we meet Iranians we say to them that this is high technology war fare. They have equipment to see everything on our side, so they are surely aware that PJAK is not here”, he said.
“Iranians shell only agriculture areas, not forests”, said the villagers. Their target is unarmed civilians, PJAK fighters do not wait Iranian army in day light in tomato fields.
“Here are no armed men. We have not seen in years armed guerrillas”, said the villagers.
”The target of Iran is not PJAK but destabilization of Kurdish region”, explained Abdul Wahid Gowani.
“Iran wants Kurds to be refuges in big cities. Shelling makes people afraid to come here, so they stop practising agriculture here,” said Abdul Wahid Gowani. He gave statics of the shelling during spring 2010: one girl died, one woman was injured, 25 sheep died and 237 families left their homes or did not return to mountains from the plain lands as they have done earlier.
The villagers in Wezê told that many men are afraid to come there, it is mainly women and children who remain in these mountain villages.
“The amount of shepherds decreases every year”, told Abdul Wahid Gowani. About one hundred Rawand families leave the job every year because they are afraid to go to the mountains despite they like them very much.
“ Iran wants to destroy by shelling the culture of the Rawand people”, claimed Abdul Wahid Gowani and continued: “The Rawand culture is not only Kurdish heritage, it is international heritage. Their culture and way of living is ancient, only few people are able to live like this.”
Kurdistan has been for decades target for various types of genocides. Saddam destroyed in Iraqi Kurdistan almost all villages. Iran is now destroying those villages which survived the Ba'ath government period. The destruction of traditional Kurdish way of living by Iranian bombings is one method of cultural and economical genocide. The target is to destroy the Rawand culture which is original Kurdish way of living. And Iran wants to empty villages near its boarder and to create so called security zone as decided in Algiers Accord 1975.
Because of the Iranian shellings the ancient Rawand culture is in danger to disappear completely. We may not let this happen. For the survival of their culture there is need to make research about the effects of the shellings. Also the Rawand way of living must be surveyed. Rawand people need support which benefits their survival as a group. I think the best way is to let them to practise their original livelihood and provide market for their products.
But the first thing is that Iran must stop immediately the shelling the Rawand people and other civilians.
Sulaymanian newspaper Aso published this text the 20th June 2010.
Information in Kurdish here:
http://www.dengeazad.com/NewsDetailN.aspx?id=4920&LinkID=137
On Sunday the 12th June 2010 I travelled to Wezê village near Choman to get information about the shelling of this year.
In this village thirteen years old Basoz Jahbar Agha was killed by Iranian rocket the 30th May. I met her grand mother Aisha Abdullah.
“At that day a group of teenager girls planted tomatoes on a mountain field. She had made a fire to prepare tea at 9.30 AM”, told Aisha Abdullah.
I met in Choman Kaymakan Abdul Wahid Gowani. He told that he meets often representatives of the Iranian state. Iranians say always that they shell PJAK guerrillas and enemies of Iran.
"How ever, they have killed only Kurdish civilians”, said Abdul Wahid Gowani.
“When we meet Iranians we say to them that this is high technology war fare. They have equipment to see everything on our side, so they are surely aware that PJAK is not here”, he said.
“Iranians shell only agriculture areas, not forests”, said the villagers. Their target is unarmed civilians, PJAK fighters do not wait Iranian army in day light in tomato fields.
“Here are no armed men. We have not seen in years armed guerrillas”, said the villagers.
”The target of Iran is not PJAK but destabilization of Kurdish region”, explained Abdul Wahid Gowani.
“Iran wants Kurds to be refuges in big cities. Shelling makes people afraid to come here, so they stop practising agriculture here,” said Abdul Wahid Gowani. He gave statics of the shelling during spring 2010: one girl died, one woman was injured, 25 sheep died and 237 families left their homes or did not return to mountains from the plain lands as they have done earlier.
The villagers in Wezê told that many men are afraid to come there, it is mainly women and children who remain in these mountain villages.
“The amount of shepherds decreases every year”, told Abdul Wahid Gowani. About one hundred Rawand families leave the job every year because they are afraid to go to the mountains despite they like them very much.
“ Iran wants to destroy by shelling the culture of the Rawand people”, claimed Abdul Wahid Gowani and continued: “The Rawand culture is not only Kurdish heritage, it is international heritage. Their culture and way of living is ancient, only few people are able to live like this.”
Kurdistan has been for decades target for various types of genocides. Saddam destroyed in Iraqi Kurdistan almost all villages. Iran is now destroying those villages which survived the Ba'ath government period. The destruction of traditional Kurdish way of living by Iranian bombings is one method of cultural and economical genocide. The target is to destroy the Rawand culture which is original Kurdish way of living. And Iran wants to empty villages near its boarder and to create so called security zone as decided in Algiers Accord 1975.
Because of the Iranian shellings the ancient Rawand culture is in danger to disappear completely. We may not let this happen. For the survival of their culture there is need to make research about the effects of the shellings. Also the Rawand way of living must be surveyed. Rawand people need support which benefits their survival as a group. I think the best way is to let them to practise their original livelihood and provide market for their products.
But the first thing is that Iran must stop immediately the shelling the Rawand people and other civilians.
Sulaymanian newspaper Aso published this text the 20th June 2010.
Information in Kurdish here:
http://www.dengeazad.com/NewsDetailN.aspx?id=4920&LinkID=137
Saturday, June 5, 2010
This is Kurdistan: Qaradagh
I have been again silent for too long time, sorry for that. I have been very busy with the final exams of my students, but they will be over next week.
Here are some views from Qaradagh. It is a mountain area about half an hour journey from Sulaymnia, in the south of the town. The Turkish name (”Dark Mountains”) is a memory of the Ottoman times.
This is the area where PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) started at the end of 1970s armed struggle against Saddam Hussein after Mullah Mustafa Barzani had given up his struggle 1975 because of Algiers Accord.
Nowadays Qaradagh is a popular picknick resort.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Human Rights of Dead People
This text was published in Aso newspaper (in Sulaymania) the 12th April 2010.
”Human rights” is internationally one of the central terms when speaking about justice and development. They are considered to be a basic right for all people. Also for all living people. According to international law human rights end at the moment of death.
Finnish forensic odontologist Helena Ranta disagrees with this. According to her dead people have three basic rights: a grave, their name in it and funeral ceremonies according to their religion. This is reflected also in the Additional Protocol 1 of Geneva Convention from 1977. It is the most important international convention about warfare conditions.
According to Dr Helena Ranta the forensic expert community agrees that also dead have human rights.
Dr Helena Ranta says that it is the right of the families to know the cause of death of their beloved ones. Without this information it is very difficult for them to continue their own lives. The families have also right to bury their deceased.
Dr Helena Ranta is the head of the Finnish Forensic Expert Team. She has been surveying mass graves around the world over fifteen years.
She writes in an essay about the importance of the grave:
”At the grave the relatives can remember and pay tribute to them who have gone before them.”
In Kurdistan April is the month of remembering and mourning the victims of the Anfal. Last year there was funeral of Anfal victims in Kalar, this year similar ceremony was in Chamchamal.
When following such ceremonies in the grave yard or from mass media, one should keep in mind these three basic rights of dead people: funeral ceremonies, grave and name in it.
182 000 people disappeared in the Anfal. Only few thousand bodies have been found. The found victims have been buried to their home areas. But how many of them got all the three rights of dead people? Most of the buried victims have got the two first rights: Islamic funeral ceremony and a grave. But not their name in it. There are grave yards of the victims of the Anfal and the Barzan genocide but no one knows who are lying in the graves. In the graveyeard of the disappeared Barzanis near Bile no grave has a name. 8300 Barzanis disappeared 1983, only 503 bodies have been found.
Barzan genocide happened twenty seven years ago and the Anfal twenty two years ago. Most of us believe that no one of the disapperared persons is returning alive. But the mothers and fathers, wives and husbands – some of them, not all - refuse to believe the death of their beloved ones until they see the body. They wait for their return and spend their own life by dreaming. There are miracle stories like Ali who returned to Halabja twenty two years after his disappearance. Such returns are unique but they fuel the dreams of the families who have lost their members.
The Anfal happened more than twenty decades ago. Many of the elderly survived family members have suffered so much that their pain has had permanent effect on them. Maybe it is too late for them to return to normal life like Dr Helena Ranta says. But they get peace in their mind if they know what happened to their beloved ones and they have a grave where they can vein. The human rights of dead people and the
rights of their families belong together.
”Human rights” is internationally one of the central terms when speaking about justice and development. They are considered to be a basic right for all people. Also for all living people. According to international law human rights end at the moment of death.
Finnish forensic odontologist Helena Ranta disagrees with this. According to her dead people have three basic rights: a grave, their name in it and funeral ceremonies according to their religion. This is reflected also in the Additional Protocol 1 of Geneva Convention from 1977. It is the most important international convention about warfare conditions.
According to Dr Helena Ranta the forensic expert community agrees that also dead have human rights.
Dr Helena Ranta says that it is the right of the families to know the cause of death of their beloved ones. Without this information it is very difficult for them to continue their own lives. The families have also right to bury their deceased.
Dr Helena Ranta is the head of the Finnish Forensic Expert Team. She has been surveying mass graves around the world over fifteen years.
She writes in an essay about the importance of the grave:
”At the grave the relatives can remember and pay tribute to them who have gone before them.”
In Kurdistan April is the month of remembering and mourning the victims of the Anfal. Last year there was funeral of Anfal victims in Kalar, this year similar ceremony was in Chamchamal.
When following such ceremonies in the grave yard or from mass media, one should keep in mind these three basic rights of dead people: funeral ceremonies, grave and name in it.
182 000 people disappeared in the Anfal. Only few thousand bodies have been found. The found victims have been buried to their home areas. But how many of them got all the three rights of dead people? Most of the buried victims have got the two first rights: Islamic funeral ceremony and a grave. But not their name in it. There are grave yards of the victims of the Anfal and the Barzan genocide but no one knows who are lying in the graves. In the graveyeard of the disappeared Barzanis near Bile no grave has a name. 8300 Barzanis disappeared 1983, only 503 bodies have been found.
Barzan genocide happened twenty seven years ago and the Anfal twenty two years ago. Most of us believe that no one of the disapperared persons is returning alive. But the mothers and fathers, wives and husbands – some of them, not all - refuse to believe the death of their beloved ones until they see the body. They wait for their return and spend their own life by dreaming. There are miracle stories like Ali who returned to Halabja twenty two years after his disappearance. Such returns are unique but they fuel the dreams of the families who have lost their members.
The Anfal happened more than twenty decades ago. Many of the elderly survived family members have suffered so much that their pain has had permanent effect on them. Maybe it is too late for them to return to normal life like Dr Helena Ranta says. But they get peace in their mind if they know what happened to their beloved ones and they have a grave where they can vein. The human rights of dead people and the
rights of their families belong together.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Anfal funeral in Chamchamal
106 Anfal victims were buried in their home region Chamchamal in South Kurdistan on Tuesday the 13th April 2010. Prime minister Dr Barham Salih and former prime minister Nechirvan Barzani attended the funeral.
Ba'ath party and Saddam Hussein committed Anfal, the Kurdish genocide in spring 1988. The amount of victims is 182 000. There is more information about it in Sahmaran blog under titles "Anfal"; "Genocide" and "Human Rights of dead people".
Photos: Kristiina Koivunen
Saturday, April 10, 2010
This is Kurdistan: Picnic in Qaradagh
Spring is the season for picnics in Kurdistan. Especially in South Kurdistan people really love them. On Fridays cities and towns are empty when people go to the mountains.
I was on picnic in Qaradagh (south from Sulaymania) at the beginning of April. We grilled fish.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Kurdish genocide is more than the Anfal
This text was published in Aso newspaper the 4th April 2010. Aso is the biggest newspaper in Kurdistan, it is published in Sulaymania.
The anniversary of the Anfal is soon. When Kurds speak about the Kurdish genocide they usually mean the Anfal. But it is only the peak of the genocide process, which is much bigger than the Anfal.
Ottoman Kurdistan was divided between Iraq, Turkey and Syria after the First World War. The process which led to the Anfal started in Lausanne in 1923. Arabs and Turks started to assimilate Kurds by all means. But Kurds resisted in many small revolutions. Usually historians speak about them as local uprisings without seeing the context. The uprisings were not separate incidents.
Arabization of Kurds started with milder forms like making education in Arabic language. But Kurds refused to give up their identity and they have defended it since those days. So oppression methods became harder.
Television programs and newspaper articles about the Anfal show horrible pictures of dead bodies and skeletons. This gives audience an image that genocide is same than killing. It is that but it is also other things.
There are many forms of genocide and various methods to make it. The aim of the perpetrators is to force the target group to change its identity. Cultural and linguistic genocides are methods for this. If Kurds forget their language, after some generations they will be Arabs. There is no need to kill them.
Well, Kurds have refused to forget their culture and identity. So the oppressors took harder methods. Local uprisings were ended brutally. The aim of brutalities was not to kill all of them but teach a lesson: you must accept to become Arabs! In the 1970s and 1980s Kurds still refused to do it. Men were fighting as peshmergas and women folk assisted them. All methods to change Kurds into Arabs had turned out to be in vain. So Ba'ath party decided to move to the final stage of the genocide process, the total annihilation of Kurds. The Anfal started.
The Iraqi Parliament has accepted the Anfal as genocide. It is a good start for the international recognition of the Anfal. It is important that especially the Arab World would understand that genocide happened in Iraq in 1988.
The Kurds themselves should understand whole the horrible process which their land has gone through during 87 years. It is necessary for the sake of understanding and solving the present problems.
The victims of massacres before the Anfal and victims of deportations and purposefully caused starvation are also victims of genocide. The amount of the victims of the Kurdish genocide is much more than 182 000 people. No one knows how many. Many Kurdish generations were suffering last century.
For the victims, of course, it does not matter what is the cause of their death. But for the survivors it is important to understand what really happened. They live in a post-genocide society. And the future generations need to know what atrocities happened to their ancestors.
The anniversary of the Anfal is soon. When Kurds speak about the Kurdish genocide they usually mean the Anfal. But it is only the peak of the genocide process, which is much bigger than the Anfal.
Ottoman Kurdistan was divided between Iraq, Turkey and Syria after the First World War. The process which led to the Anfal started in Lausanne in 1923. Arabs and Turks started to assimilate Kurds by all means. But Kurds resisted in many small revolutions. Usually historians speak about them as local uprisings without seeing the context. The uprisings were not separate incidents.
Arabization of Kurds started with milder forms like making education in Arabic language. But Kurds refused to give up their identity and they have defended it since those days. So oppression methods became harder.
Television programs and newspaper articles about the Anfal show horrible pictures of dead bodies and skeletons. This gives audience an image that genocide is same than killing. It is that but it is also other things.
There are many forms of genocide and various methods to make it. The aim of the perpetrators is to force the target group to change its identity. Cultural and linguistic genocides are methods for this. If Kurds forget their language, after some generations they will be Arabs. There is no need to kill them.
Well, Kurds have refused to forget their culture and identity. So the oppressors took harder methods. Local uprisings were ended brutally. The aim of brutalities was not to kill all of them but teach a lesson: you must accept to become Arabs! In the 1970s and 1980s Kurds still refused to do it. Men were fighting as peshmergas and women folk assisted them. All methods to change Kurds into Arabs had turned out to be in vain. So Ba'ath party decided to move to the final stage of the genocide process, the total annihilation of Kurds. The Anfal started.
The Iraqi Parliament has accepted the Anfal as genocide. It is a good start for the international recognition of the Anfal. It is important that especially the Arab World would understand that genocide happened in Iraq in 1988.
The Kurds themselves should understand whole the horrible process which their land has gone through during 87 years. It is necessary for the sake of understanding and solving the present problems.
The victims of massacres before the Anfal and victims of deportations and purposefully caused starvation are also victims of genocide. The amount of the victims of the Kurdish genocide is much more than 182 000 people. No one knows how many. Many Kurdish generations were suffering last century.
For the victims, of course, it does not matter what is the cause of their death. But for the survivors it is important to understand what really happened. They live in a post-genocide society. And the future generations need to know what atrocities happened to their ancestors.
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