“Kurdification” Turkmen, Arab, Christian and Shabak parties claim harassment and forced assimilation by Kurdish militias in Kirkuk and other mixed areas such as villages in the Ninewa Plain, with the aim of incorporating these areas into the Region of Kurdistan. Ethnic minorities have repeatedly accused the Kurdish parties and their military forces of acts of violence and discrimination, arbitrary arrests and detention on sectarian basis, political marginalization (including through electoral manipulations), monopolizing of government offices, and changing the demographics with the ultimate goal of incorporating Kirkuk and other mixed areas into the Region of Kurdistan. The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) noted that the Kurdish parties “present the threat of soft ethnic cleansing in the area of Kirkuk.” It has been reported that KDP offices have been opened in all villages in the Ninewa Plain, Kurdish armed forces (Peshmerga) patrol the streets of Kirkuk and street signs in Kirkuk have been changed from Arabic to Kurdish. The issue of return of persons displaced by the former Government, as foreseen in Article 58 of the TAL, has particularly sparked tensions and disputes over the ownership of homes and lands and is expected to further increase in view of the popular referendum. The Kurdish parties have been accused of being responsible for the return of hundreds of thousands of Kurds to Kirkuk and other disputed areas, including of persons that had never been expelled by the former regime. Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Shabak have repeatedly expressed their fear for ongoing Kurdification of the mixed areas and have called for the recognition of their rights. Assyrian Christian parties have since 2004 lobbied for a new Governorate, “Assyria”, in the Ninewa Plains in line with Article 121 of the Constitution, which guarantees administrative, political, cultural and educational rights for ethnic minorities. Pascale Warda, Director of the Iraqi Women’s Centre for Development in Baghdad and former Minister of Displacement and Migration, has become the public face for this campaign. She and others believe that a self-administered Governorate would be the only way to stop the violence and flow of Christian refugees out of Iraq. Other minorities such as Yazidis and Shabaks would also be welcome according to the supporters of this idea, who say that the Governorate would be “geographically based and not ethnically based”. Whether or not “Assyria” should be part of an enlarged Kurdistan Region or remain under control of the central Government is disputed. Some Yazidis expressed concern over forced assimilation into Kurdish culture and identity. Some have accused the Kurdish parties of diverting US $12 million reconstruction funds allocated for Yazidi areas in Jebel Sinjar to a Kurdish village and marginalizing them politically. “The goal of these tactics is to push Shabak and Yazidi communities to identify as ethnic Kurds. The Kurdish authorities are working hard to impose Kurdish identity on two of the most vulnerable minorities in Iraq, the Yazidis and the Shabaks”. A report from Human Rights Watch(HRW), in 2009 refworld.org/pdfid/46deb05557.pdf en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdification
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 18:47:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015