My speech at EU conference on Faylee-Kurds

1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FAYLEE KURDS IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Brussels, European Parliament, 2 Mai 2016

Akram Hawas
My speech at the EU conference May the 2nd 2016

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In my contribution I would like to make a form of theoretical analysis of the case of the Faylee Kurds, which, in few words can easily be put under the context of “the history of a pariah group in an extreme hostile environment”.

This case study is about one of the social groups, which has been sentenced to death, marginalization, deprivation, and deportation, not because of any of crime, but because of its constructive societal role in the modern history of Iraq (other colleagues emphasized Faylee-Kurds vast contributions in economic, sport, music…etc.). Let us remember Hannah Arendt’s emphasis "the right to have right", and may regret the lessons, which we have not learned. Now while other small social groups,´-or-minorities, like the Yezedies, Shabak and others who face extreme severe uprooting conditions, and while there is a spread fear that the Middle East is getting empty of the Christians and others, can we just wonder why the international community did not react to the regular genocide of the Faylee Kurds that took place over long time in 1980-88.

Looking at the history of this case, we can point out several conjunctions, which played a central role in the final result, i.e., the genocide of the Faylee Kurds. The first was the process of the nation-state. In many ways, neither the conception of “nation”, nor of the “state”, has contributed in establishing the basis of democratic social and political development. The nation-state building process was rather about exclusion than any real form of inclusion.

This notion is profoundly valid in the most of Middle Eastern countries, and the current Syrian example is clear. Nevertheless, the developments in Iraq have already for long time indicated a tragic and bloody nature of such a process in a form that made both the “nation” and the “state” mechanisms of pushing individuals and small social out of the “Iraqi” context than creating homogeneity and coherence among the people and in the state/society relations.

In the aftermath of the defeat of Ottoman Empire, the British occupying power brought a man from Saudi-Arabia to rule Iraq. This did send a clear message of exclusion of the historic social groups including the Kurds (Faylee), and gave the Arabs a form of non-negotiable but rather sacred supremacy in all fields of societal interactions. In other words, such supremacy established a form of socio-political hierarchy, where the Arabs were given the unlimited power to determine the social development on the basis of severe and often bloody border of us/others. Ironically, the modern stat of Iraq, turned back in history, and so became determined by the same traditional rules of the former Islamic authorities. This historical setback has likewise also poisoned the Arab-Arab relations on the basis of sectarian and clan grounded, thus severe conflicts, but the Arab supremacy vis-à-vis non-Arabs remained a sacred and out of any considerations.

On the same basis, while the British army conquered Iraq liberating it from the despotic nature of the Ottoman empire, the legislative basis of "Iraqi citizenship" was determined by the same despotic Ottoman measures, in form that only those individuals who held Ottoman documents were recognized as Iraqis, while others were considered as non-Iraqis,´-or-“non grata” strangers, regardless their historical grounds in the to-be Iraqi geographical borders.

Unfortunately, while this put great burden on the shoulders of the non-Arabs to prove their loyalty throughout extreme severe daily mechanisms, the ruling elites, regardless their political and ideological perceptions, had a free hand to humiliate, expropriate all rights including properties, deport and even kill any of these “non grata strangers”, without any real legislative power of protection.

Nevertheless, the intellectual establishment, not only the pan-Arabist´-or-Arab nationalists, but even those who called themselves leftist and progressive elements and political movements, never proved any real reject of these measurements. They either presented justifications based upon chauvinistic considerations,´-or-chose neglect and ignorance. This position of the intellectuals offered the governments wide and vast opportunities for maneuvering and manipulating theirs politics.

As a specific area in the overall Faylee-Kurds case, I will focus on Mandali, a town in eastern Iraq, where I originally come from, and the expropriation process included an intensive Arabization process started in the early 1960s. Later in the 1970s, this process took a very form of insult, where women were raped, agricultures farms were confiscated, people deported, and others displaced, and finally the Kurdish language was banned in 1978, so that the town was paralyzed and all activities were out of act, simply because the people were not able to speak Arabic.

Apart from the banning of the Kurdish language, which remained a Mandali phenomenon, all other aspects of Arabization have been dominated the socio-economic development in all Faylee-Kurds territories starting from Khaneqeen in the north and alongside the eastern of Iraqi-Iranian borders south to Kut. Consequently, the Faylee-Kurds, since the establishment of the Iraqi modern state, have experienced in some degree forms of: Ethnic cleansing, demographic transfer, displacement, genocide, marginalization, Arabization and coercive social change, devastation, social destabilization, cultural eradication, and starvation.

Another central historic element also has a great role, i.e., the historical controversies and conflicts between the Arabs and the Persian empires and power enters both prior to the emergence of Islam, under Islamic Caliphate and recently between Iran and Iraq (supported by other Arabic countries. The Faylee territories have been battlefield some of the most bloodies wars, already once the Arabs sought to expand beyond the Arabic Peninsula, and later between the Safavid and Ottoman empires (now Iran and Turkey). This long historical conflict still impacts the Faylee-Kurds as permanent victims.
Now while the new political system, which took over the power in Iraq, has established good ties with Iran, the Faylee-Kurds are still considered as non-Iraqis, and recently they face a new form of threats based profoundly upon the political discrepancies between the federal government in Baghdad, and regional government in Iraqi-Kurdistan. And unfortunately, the authorities of the Iraqi-Kurdistan have not able to prove inclusion of the Faylee-Kurds.

To sum up, a realistic reading of the developments indicates that the nation state has so far been a failure project, the elites, primarily militaries, had no visions for how to create coherence among population. They lacked any form of perception of a multi-ethnic and other social-grounded society. They know nothing what development could mean. The only concern for theses elites was their power and sectarian influence and wealth. The nation building was about how to enforce the minorities to change their cultural values, linguistic grounds, ethnic identities, and historical references. These minorities were at a cross road-;- either living with permanent humiliation,´-or-facing death and deportation.

Consequently, social division, marginalization of peripheries, geographically politically, economically and culturally was set in an accelerated process. The state-society relations was replaced by mutual distrust, the state found no ethical boundaries for the use of all kinds of despotic measurements and abuse of individual and collective rights of any person´-or-group, who were considered as "other" than rigid Iraqi. After the fall of Saddam Husain regime, not much has been changed with regard to the political culture and mentality. We have experienced sever abuse the very rights of non-Arab and non-Muslims social groups committed by various militia groups with different beliefs and interpretations.

Putting these historical facts forward respected EU authorities, it is quite important to emphasis some few points to avoid any kind of misinterpretation:

Firstly, the primary objective for us is in no way any form of revenge against any social group, even those who played the decisive role in demonizing and suppressing the Faylee-Kurds specifically´-or-the Kurds generally. The case for us is how to convince the powerful groups to recognize the Faylee-Kurds and other minorities as citizens and equal partners in Iraq.

Secondly, considerations may not focus any form of re-division, rather would we see forwards for reconciliation, creating the culture of coexistence, establishing the basis of cooperation, development and stability across the borders between all countries in the Middle East including Iraq.

Thirdly, while EU is facing new challenges as the effect of huge waves of refugees and desperate peoples, the essential question for everyone is how make real investment in the future by establishing the basis of development.

I still believe that EU can invest in peaceful development project, as developing theses societies will undoubtedly create the stability based upon peaceful social change, and definitely will likewise establish the basis of peaceful interaction with the rest of the world, specially the closest neighbors of EU and others. And hopefully, such a project can help in reconsidering the us/other dilemma.

Thank you.

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