• Text size  | | |
• Email this document
• Printable version

Iraq: Update to IRQ27283.E of 11 July 1997 on the governance of Mosul, including whether Kurds have been expelled from the city as part of the Iraqi regime's Arabization policy (1998-2002)

The city of Mosul is under the control of the Iraqi government (Al-Zaman 25 Jan. 1999; Al-Ittihad 27 Dec. 2002; The Hindu 30 Dec. 2002). According to The Guardian, the city of Mosul, along with the city of Kirkuk, "were left in the hands of troops loyal to Saddam in 1991" (21 May 2001).

In 1998, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported that the Anadolu news agency had quoted a report prepared by the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK) stating that the "exodus" of Kurds from northern Iraq into Turkey "had been prompted by the evacuation of northern Iraqi cities Mossul and Kirkuk under directives from Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein with the aim to completely 'arabize' the Kurdish-held northern part" (8 Jan. 1998). The DPK were reported to claim that "Saddam's arabization policy had displaced some 300,000 people in northern Iraq, most of whom were Turkmens, Kurds and a Syrian-speaking minority" (DPA 8 Jan. 1998).

In 2001, The Guardian reported that "[t]he Iraqi government has been pursuing a policy of forced Arabisation, expelling Kurdish families northwards and replacing them with Arab-speaking families from southern Iraq" (21 May 2001).

Also in 2001, The Kurdistan Observer reported that "[t]he plan is to bring two thousand Arab families from Mosul to be settled in Kirkuk as part of the continuing Arabization plan" (14 Oct. 2001).

In 2002, The Kurdistan Observer reported that "the regime of Saddam Hussein has conducted an 'Arabiztion' campaign in Kirkuk and other areas in Northern Iraq over the past 20 years" (26 Mar. 2002).

In its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices from 1999 through 2002, the United States Department of State reported that the Iraqi government "continued to Arabize certain Kurdish areas, such as the urban centers of Kirkuk and Mosul, through the forced movement of local residents from their homes and villages and their replacement by Arabs and from outside the area" (Country Reports 1999 23 Feb. 2000, Sec. 1.g; Country Reports 2000 23 Feb. 2001, Sec. 1.g; Country Reports 2001 4 Mar. 2002, Sec. 1.g; Country Reports 2002 31 Mar. 2003, Sec. 1.g). For additional information on the Iraqi government's Arabization policy, please refer to Section 2.d of Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for the years 1999 through 2002.

According to The Kurdistan Observer,

[w]hile this sort of forcible attempt at demographic changes in the oil-rich Kirkuk region and other outlying border areas of southern Kurdistan is not particularly new and its subtle practice may well date back all the way to the Ottoman Empire's time and then through the rule of various central Iraqi regimes after 1921, it has never been practiced so viciously and so brutally as at the hands of the present fascist regime.

... they [the Iraqi regime] have systematically devised and adopted various policies, laws, and machinations that will ensure the achievement of this objective with utmost efficiency ... for over a decade now their wrath has expanded to include the Turkmans and the Assyrians as well, in a wide area ranging from Kirkuk to Khanaqin and from Shingar to Sheikhan to Tuz-Khormatu (7 Mar. 2002).

Corroborating information was found in the following news reports: Kurdistani Nuwe 29 July 2001, Brayati 26 January 2002, Middle East Report Spring 2002, The Kurdistan Observer 12 June 2002, and Human Rights Watch World Report 2003.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Al-Ittihad [Al-Sulaymaniyah, in Arabic]. 27 December 2002. "Iraq: Kurdish Islamic Scholars Denounce 'Bogus' Conference in Kirkuk." (BBC Monitoring 28 Dec. 2002/NEXIS)

Al-Zaman [London, in Arabic]. 25 January 1999. "Eyewitnesses Say Iraq Reinforcing Forces in North." (BBC Summary 27 Jan. 1999/NEXIS)

Brayati [Arbil, in Sorani]. 26 January 2002. "Iraq: Committee Set Up to Combat Ethnic Cleansing in Kurdish Area." (FBIS-NES-2002-0203 26 Jan. 2002/WNC)

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2002. 31 March 2003. United States Department of State. Washington, D.C. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18277.htm> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2001. 4 March 2002. United States Department of State. Washington, D.C. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8257.htm> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000. 23 February 2001. United States Department of State. Washington, D.C. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/nea/787.htm> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1999. 23 February 2000. United States Department of State. Washington, D.C. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/410.htm> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). 8 January 1998. "Some 6,000 Northern Iraqi Kurds in Turkey to Travel onto Europe." (NEXIS)

The Guardian [London]. 21 May 2001. Owen Bowcott. "Welcome to Britain: A World of Pain: What Makes People Give Up Their Homes and Their Whole Way of Life to Travel to a Strange Land and an Uncertain Future? Guardian Writers Examine the Pressures that Drive Five of the Biggest Groups of Asylum Seekers Towards Our Shores: The Kurds." (NEXIS)

The Hindu [Chennai, India, in English]. 30 December 2002. "Iraqi Oil Fields Will Be Prime Target." (Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire/NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2003. Human Rights Watch World Report 2003. <http://www.hrw.org/wr2k3/mideast4.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

The Kurdistan Observer. 14 October 2002. "While the World Is Not Watching, Iraq Escalates Ethnic Cleansing." <htto://mywebpage.netscape.com/kurdistanobserve/15-10-01-kn-irq-escalates-ethnic-cleansing.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

_____. 12 June 2002. Shilan Ali Jabari. "Prime Minister Salih and Kurdish Asylum Seekers in Sweden." <http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistanobserver/12-6-02-opinion-test2.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

_____. 26 March 2002. "Iraq Pursues Ethnic Cleansing of Kurds." <http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistanobserver/26-3-02-upi-enthnic-cleansing-kirkuk.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

_____. 7 March 2002. Kurdish National Congress. "Ethnic Cleansing in Occupied Southern Kurdistan." <http://home.cogeco.ca/~kurdistanobserver/7-3-02-knc-arabization.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Kurdistani Nuwe [Al-Sulaymaniyah, in Sorani]. 29 July 2001. Dler Salim. "Iraq: Government Reportedly Plans Ethnic-Cleansing of Kurds." (FBIS-NES-2001-0801 29 July 2001/WNC)

Middle East Report. Spring 2002. No. 222. Maggy Zanger. "Refugees in Their Own Country." <http://www.merip.org/mer/mer222/222_zanger.html> [Accessed 8 Apr. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

Internet sites, including:

Al-Bawaba

BBC

Iraqi News

Iraq Press

United Kingdom, Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Topics: Kurd,