Armed Conflicts Report
Iraq - Kurds
(1961 - first combat deaths)
Update: January 2005
Summary
Type
of Conflict
Parties
to the Conflict
Status of the Fighting
Number of Deaths
Political Developments
Background
Arms Sources
Summary:
2004
The armed conflict between Kurdish separatists and the Iraqi government
was overtaken by the US-led war of occupation of Iraq and the
removal of the government of Saddam Hussein in early 2003.
2003
Fighting intensified in northern Iraq following
the US-led invasion of the country in March. Kurdish armed groups,
assisted by US forces, routed Islamic militants and seized control
of large areas of land, exacerbating tensions with local ethnic
groups and the Turkish government before a later withdrawal. Kurdish
leaders were included in the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council,
reflecting the willingness of the main Kurdish political groups
to seek a political solution to their long-standing struggle for
autonomy.
2002 Fighting
in northern Iraq between rival Kurdish factions claimed at least
100 lives this year. Peace talks between the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK) and Ansar al-Islam were cut short in April although
the Kurdish Democratic Party and the PUK agreed to put aside their
differences to form a united armed opposition to Baghdad in anticipation
of a US-led war on Iraq.
2001 Clashes
between rival Kurdish groups were reported throughout the year
leaving at least 200 dead. The Iraqi military deployed large numbers
of troops along the northern protected no-fly-zone and there were
reports of artillery shelling by Iraqi forces. Two Islamic rebel
groups in northern Iraq also announced they would form a new united
party, Jund al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam), later renamed Ansar
al-Islam (Supporters of Islam).
2000 Iraqi authorities continued
widespread human rights violations against Kurds and other minorities
in areas under government control. Turkey also continued military
incursions into the area, pursuing members of the rebel PKK. Meanwhile,
the PKK clashed with local rebel groups, the KDP and PUK and at
least 200 died in the fighting.
1999 Government forces continued
sporadic shelling of Kurdish villages in the north, although there
was no fighting reported between the two major rebel groups that
control Iraqi Kurdish areas. Deaths were reported from the shelling,
but no total casualty figures were available for the year.
1998 A ceasefire between
the two major Kurdish rebel groups held through 1998, but the
Iraq government continued a campaign against Kurdish populations
which included forced displacement, torture, and political executions.
1997 With the cooperation of
the Iraqi Kurdish rebel group the KDP, Turkish forces invaded
northern Iraq in May to attack enemy PKK Kurdish rebels and establish
a "security zone." In October, the two largest Kurdish insurgent
groups in Iraq, the KDP and the PUK, ended a year-long truce with
clashes that escalated into a major offensive in November.
Meanwhile, government political executions continued.
Type of Conflict:
State formation
Parties to the Conflict:
1) Government:
of President Saddam Hussein, which
was deposed in April 2003. Saddam Hussein was captured by US forces
later in the year.
2) Various Kurdish groups, of which
the two largest are the KDP and the PUK:
- Democratic Party of Kurdistan (KDP),
founded in 1945, led by Massoud Barzani;
- Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),
founded in 1975, led by Jalal Talabani;
- Islamic Movement in Iraqi Kurdistan
(IMIK) sponsored by Iran;
- Iraqi National Congress (INC) a
grouping of multi-ethnic opposition parties;
- Ansar al-Islam (Supporters of
Islam) created in December 2001 after the union between Jund
al-Islam (Soldiers of Islam) and an Islamic splinter group under
the leadership of Mullah Krekar.
This group is believed to have
links with the al-Qaeda network led by Osama bin Laden, and
targets all secular Kurd groups.
- and, various other groups make
up a force called the Kurdistan Front.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan controls the eastern
part of the autonomous zone, while the western sector is controlled
by the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The rebels groups have historically been far from united and have
clashed with each other and with the PKK, the Turkish Kurdish insurgent
force with a presence in Iraq, on a regular basis. However, with
the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein, the two main Kurdish groups,
the KDP and PUK, formed an alliance in order to increase their power
in the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), which includes several Kurdish
leaders.
"... Kurdish leaders are adjusting
rapidly to the realities of post-Hussein politics. First, to maximize
their national influence, the PUK and the rival Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) have renounced the differences that led to civil war
in their 17,000-square-mile enclave in the 1990s. The two groups
now speak with one voice, and they say they are preparing to merge
the dual administrations that rule separate sections of the Kurdish
region in northeastern Iraq... More importantly, Kurdish leaders
say they have jettisoned their long-standing dream of an independent
ethnic homeland..." [The Washington Post, August 12, 2003]
"[Ansar al-Islam] is reportedly supported
by Mr. Hussein and has links with Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network."
[The Christian Science Monitor, April 9, 2002]
3) Other:
US government and allies involved
in "Operation Provide Comfort" (UK, France). This operation began
after the first Gulf War (Desert Storm) in 1991 to provide a safe
area in northern Iraq for the Kurdish population. A "no-fly zone"
over northern Iraq was patrolled by US, French and UK air forces.
As part of the US-led invasion in March 2003, the US established
a second front by deploying thousands of troops to northern Iraq.
These allied themselves with local Kurdish fighters to defeat
Iraqi security forces located in the north.
"A northern front in the war in Iraq
began to take shape yesterday when U.S. forces flew in during the
early hours of the morning. Four C-130 transport planes carrying
troops, equipment and vehicles landed at an airstrip in this village,
10 kilometres outside Sulaymaniyah, the main city in eastern Kurdish
Iraq, according to a senior Kurdish official... The United States
and its coalition partners had planned to bring about 40,000 to
50,000 troops into the north of Iraq from bases in Turkey... but
the Turkish parliament rejected a deal worth at least $6-billion
(U.S.) to allow the coalition access to those bases..." [globeandmail.com,
March 24, 2003]
Turkey has had troops in northern
Iraq for several years to defend its border against Turkish Kurds
who have fought the Turkish government for the past two decades.
It sent reinforcements into northern Iraq following the US-led
invasion in 2003 to discourage Iraqi Kurds from securing additional
territory and power along the Iraqi-Turkish border.
"Several thousand Turkish troops are
stationed [in northern Iraq], with Iraqi Kurdish approval, to monitor
the PKK [Kurdistan Workers party] rebels who waged a bloody guerrilla
war in south-eastern Turkey for Kurdish rights over the last two
decades. Turkey has also repeatedly staged military incursions into
Iraq over the past decade in pursuit of the Turkish Kurdish forces."
[The Guardian, November 11, 2003]
Status of Fighting:
2003 The
US-led invasion of Iraq, which began in March, transformed the
armed conflict in the north of the country, most significantly
by the dissolution of Iraqi government forces, one of the parties
to the conflict. In April, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan fighters,
with the support of US warplanes and special forces, routed the
Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, killing over a hundred
and dispersing hundreds more. Also in April, US-backed Kurdish
fighters seized the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk,
forcing Iraqi security forces to retreat south. The fall of Saddam
Hussein’s government did not end tensions, however; clashes between
Kurdish, Turkmen and Arab populations continued sporadically throughout
the year, largely over disputed land. There were also reports
of clashes between Iraqi-based Turkish Kurds and US forces.
"Last week, at least six people were
killed in ethnic clashes in the city [Kiirkuk] - mostly Turkmens
and Arabs at the hands of the well-armed and organized Kurd militias.
In late August, at least 10 were killed in similar incidents." [Christian
Science Monitor, January 9, 2004]
"An explosion at the offices of a Kurdish
political party [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] in the northern town
of Kirkuk killed four people on Thursday... The PUK is a group
that supports American efforts in Iraq. Party chief Jalal Talabani
is the current head of the U.S.-installed Iraqi Governing Council.
Nobody claimed responsibility, but insurgents have warned they will
target anyone who collaborates with occupation authorities." [globeandmail.com,
November 20, 2003]
"US troops and officers of the new
Iraqi border police force clashed with Turkish Kurdish rebels in
northern Iraq at the weekend in an incident that left one policeman
dead and wounded several others... ‘There were clashes not only
with the United States but also between [Iraqi Kurdish fighters]
and the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party]...’ Abdullah Gul, the Turkish
foreign minister, said yesterday." [The Guardian, November
11, 2003]
"He is one of thousands of Arab villagers
across central and northern Iraq who are forming armed militias
to resist attempts by local Kurds to force them from the land they
have been farming for decades. The move, which comes as Kurds move
to reverse Saddam Hussein’s ‘Arabisation’ process of ethnic cleansing,
threatens widespread communal violence across a large part of the
country. Hundreds have already died in inter-ethnic clashes." [Guardian
Weekly, April 24-30, 2003]
"US forces took over control in Mosul
and Kirkuk over the weekend as Kurdish forces that seized the two
key towns withdrew following pressure from Turkey." [Agence France
Presse, April 15, 2003]
"A hundred US special forces led thousands
of Kurdish pershmerga fighters in a massive assault last week that
destroyed the headquarters of the radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam
in northeastern Iraq." [Guardian Weekly, April 3-9, 2003]
"The Kurds, backed by U.S. warplanes,
are moving slowly toward Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq,
and Kirkuk, hub of an oil-rich region. As Iraqi soldiers retreat,
the Kurds have begun to absorb villages in their area of control."
[The Washington Post, April 9. 2003]
"With the threat of a U.S. invasion
looming over Iraq, residents in this community... say they already
live in the middle of a war between the secular government and Islamic
radicals holed up in the mountains. The most recent attack on Saturday
killed seven people... Ansar, which controls several villages,
has declared war on secular Kurdish parties... On Saturday in Qamesh
Tapa, about 190 miles northeast Baghdad, Ansar operatives assassinated
a well-known minister, Shawkat Haji Mushir, two other senior leaders,
and four civilians." [Associated Press, February 14, 2003]
2002 Combatants
from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Ansar al-Islam engaged
in skirmishes which killed many fighters and some civilians. A
Human Rights Watch report claimed Ansar al-Islam perpetrated human
rights abuses against Kurds, including murdering surrendered combatants.
The United States and Britain intensified their bombing campaign
in the no-fly zone in northern Iraq, killing civilians and Iraqi
soldiers. In anticipation of a US-led war against it, the Iraqi
regime stepped up detentions and executions of civilians and military
officers accused of disloyalty.
"The battle is the latest in a long
series of skirmishes between Ansar and the Patriotic Union, which
has sought to drive the extremist Muslim militia from its mountain
stronghold on the eastern edge of the Kurdish autonomous zone in
northern Iraq." [boston.com, May 5, 2002]
"During a mission to Iraqi Kurdistan
in September 2002, Human Rights Watch investigated reports of human
rights abuses perpetrated by members of Ansar al-Islam in areas
under their control. These reports suggested that Ansar al-Islam
had been responsible for arbitrary arrests of numerous Kurdish civilians,
prolonged and illegal detention, the torture and ill-treatment of
detainees, and the killing of combatants after surrender." [Human
Rights Watch, February 5, 2003]
"Hostilities in the [no-fly] zones
have ebbed and flowed over the years, and the 2002 year-end total
of 78 coalition strikes is much higher than the 43 of 2001, but
nearly matches the 80 of 2000." [boston.com, December 31,
2002]
"Iraq considers the patrols a violation
of its sovereignty and frequently shoots at the planes. In response,
coalition pilots try to bomb Iraqi air defenses." [Associated
Press, October 22, 2002]
2001 Clashes were reported
between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), an Iraqi based Kurdish
rebel group, and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish
rebel group retreating from Turkey. Fighting was also reported
between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the newly-formed
Jund Al-Islam. A major Iraqi troop buildup began in June along
the border with northern Kurdish enclaves, with reports of artillery
shelling by Iraqi forces.
"The head of a leading Kurdish faction
in northern Iraq pledged that his military would continue fighting
rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who have retreated
form Turkey. ‘The presence of the PKK in our region is unacceptable,’
Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP)
said after talks with senior Turkish diplomats. ‘If the PKK insists
on staying, our struggle to get them out of the region will continue
and is continuing,’ he added." [Associated Press, May 8,
2001]
"Iraqi troops are massing near the
northern no fly zone for what military analysts suspect may be an
attack inside Iraqi Kurdistan. Military experts say the military
build up is centered just south of the town of Arbil, in the Western-protected
enclave set up in April 1991 to protect the Kurds and deter Iraqi
attacks." [The Washington Times, June 25, 2001]
"The Al-Sulaymaniyah newspaper ‘Hawlati’
of October 7 pointed out that after the military ‘fiasco’ resulting
from the PUK attacks at the beginning of October, some of the Jund
fighters had left their lines and contacted and joined the Islamic
Group or PUK." [RFE/RL, Iraq Report, October 2001]
"...Iraqi government forced the population
of as many as 30 villages to leave their homes as they faced repeated
bombardment by Iraqi artillery." [RFE/RL, Iraq Report, October
2001]
2000 Iraqi authorities continued
widespread human rights violations against Kurds and other minorities
in areas under government control. Turkey also continued military
incursions into the area, pursuing members of the rebel PKK. The
two Iraq-based Kurdish rebel groups KDP and PUK clashed with the
PKK in separate incidents, seeking assistance from, and coordinating
military activities with, the Turkish forces.
"...incursions were carried out in
April, May, and August 2000... In July, armed clashes broke out
between PKK and KDP forces, lasting several days and reportedly
resulting in forty casualties, most of them PKK fighters. In mid-September,
fierce fighting broke out between PKK and PUK forces, which continued
intermittently for over two weeks in several areas, including Qala
Diza, Rania, and Zeli, with scores of casualties reported on both
sides. The fighting ended on October 4 when the PKK declared a unilateral
ceasefire." [Human Rights Watch, 2001 World Report]
"According to reports in Turkey, as
many as 10,000 Turkish troops have poured into the Kurdish controlled
enclave since December 20...." [Electronic Telegraph, 8
January 2001]
"The PKK has been trying to expand
its operations in northern Iraq after withdrawing most of its forces
from Turkey and declaring a ceasefire there. But the Iraqi Kurds
do not want to give ground to the PKK...Turkey is providing technical
assistance to both the PUK and the other Iraqi Kurdish group, the
KDP, to help them fight the PKK." [BBC News, January
10, 2001]
"The Iraqi government continued to
commit widespread and gross human rights violations, including arbitrary
arrests of suspected political opponents, executions of prisoners,
and forced expulsions of Kurds and Turkmen from Kirkuk and other
districts." [Human Rights Watch, 2001 World Report]
1999 Iraqi
forces continued sporadic shelling of Kurdish villages in the
north. Although there was no fighting reported between the two
major Iraqi Kurdish groups that control northern Iraq, the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) imposed a blockade on Assyrian villages
and abused villagers.
"The regime continued its intermittent
shelling of villages in the Kurdish administered north. Some deaths
were reported.... No hostilities were reported between the two
major Iraqi Kurdish parties in de facto control of northern Iraq.
During the year, the KDP reportedly imposed a blockade on Assyrian
villages, and later entered the villages and beat villagers....
The Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
agreed in September 1998 to unify their administrations. Little
progress was made toward implementing the 1998 agreement." [Iraq
Report on Human Rights Practices for 1999, Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State, 2000]
1998 A
ceasefire between the two major Kurdish rebel groups held through
1998, but the Iraq government continued a campaign against Kurdish
populations which included forced displacement, torture, and political
executions.
1997 With the cooperation
of the Iraqi Kurdish rebel group the KDP, Turkish forces invaded
northern Iraq in May to attack enemy Kurdish rebels and establish
a "security zone." In October, the two largest Kurdish insurgent
groups in Iraq ended a year-long truce with clashes that escalated
into a major offensive in November. Meanwhile government
political executions continued.
"On Friday an Iraqi opposition group
reported that the PUK had used missiles to attack the KDP main base;
at the same time the PUK itself faxed Western media to accuse the
Turks of allying with the KDP and sending Turkish jet bombers to
attack PUK positions. The sudden outbreak of fighting between the
two this week marked the end of a year long truce between
the two Iraqi Kurdish factions." ["IRAQ: Iraqi Kurds At Each Others'
Throats Again," Dilip Hiro, IPS, LONDON, Oct 17, 1997]
Number of Deaths:
Total:
During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s (especially in 1988), fierce
government attacks resulted in perhaps more than 100,000 Kurdish
deaths or disappearances. Fighting among rival Kurdish groups
has killed over 5,000 people since 1994. In 2002, the government
of Iraq estimated that close to 1,500 people had been killed by
US and allied bombing in the no-fly zones.
"A total of 1,479 Iraqis have been
killed since the no-fly zones were set up, according to Baghdad."
[Agence France-Presse, May 23, 2002]
"He [UN Special Rapporteur] estimates
that the total number of Kurds who disappeared during Anfal could
reach the tens of thousands. HRW estimates the total at between
70,000 and 150,000, and Amnesty International (AI) at more than
100,000." [Iraq Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996,
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State,
January 30, 1997]
2003 At
least 200 people died in fighting in northern Iraq, including
over one hundred Ansar al-Islam militants killed by US-backed
Kurdish fighters in April.
"Since April 10, when Kirkuk fell to
Kurdish forces, at least 40 civilians have been killed in inter-ethnic
violence... Tens of thousands of Arabs have fled the city and other
places in the north for fear of reprisals." [Guardian Weekly,
April 24-30, 2003]
"A US warplane bombed American special
forces and their Kurdish allies today, killing at least 18 people
in a ‘friendly fire’ attack in northern Iraq, witnesses and Kurdish
sources say. A senior Kurdish official told Reuters 18 Kurds were
killed and more than 45 wounded..." [Reuters, April 7, 2003]
"Kurdish officials claimed that 120
Ansar militants had died in the fighting." [Guardian Weekly,
April 3-9, 2003]
2002 At least 100 people
were killed in the fighting between rival Kurdish factions. Precise
numbers of people killed by bombing in the northern no-fly zone
were not available.
"On 4 July, Ansar militants attacked
PUK positions and killed eight Peshmergas, though the attack was
beaten back." [BBC News, July 24, 2002]
"Kurdish militiamen battled Islamic
militants believed to be linked to al-Qaida in norther Iraq early
Wednesday, and as many as 30 militiamen were killed or wounded..."
[washingtonpost.com, December 4, 2002]
2001 At least 200 combatants
died in clashes between rival Kurdish rebel groups.
"On September 23, thirty-seven PUK fighters
were killed by Jund al-Islam in the village of Kheli Hama on the
Sulaimaniya-Halabja road. Several died in an ambush, but the majority
was reportedly killed after surrender. Photographs of the victims
made available by the PUK showed that some of the prisoners' throats
had been slit and some of the dead had been beheaded or mutilated,
including by having their sexual organs severed. During the ensuing
clashes, an estimated one hundred PUK fighters and some forty Jund
al-Islam fighters were killed. The PUK regained control of Halabja
and its vicinity by September 26, arresting suspected supporters
or members of Jund al-Islam, and during October the fighting extended
to Sharazur, Hawraman, and elsewhere. At least thirty-eight Jund
al-Islam fighters were reportedly killed in these clashes, while
some twenty-four others were captured or surrendered." [Human Rights Watch, World Report-Iraq 2002, February 2002]
2000 At
least 200 people died in 2000, mostly rival Kurdish rebels.
"The PKK and the rival Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK) have been at war since September, with up to
200 PUK fighters reportedly killed in recent weeks." [Electronic
Telegraph, 8 January 2001]
"The Turkish news agency Anatolia said
forty people had been killed in fighting between Turkey's Kurdish
rebels of the PKK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of northern
Iraq. The agency said most of the dead belonged to the PKK, which
has in the past used bases in Kurdish-administered northern Iraq
to launch attacks against Turkey." [BBC News, 11 July 2000]
1999 Some deaths occurred
from Iraqi shelling of Kurdish areas but no casualty estimates
were available for the year.
1998 Casualty figures were
unavailable for 1998 but were likely fewer than 1997 with the
exception that government political executions may have reached
the 1997 estimate of hundreds.
1997 Rival group fighting,
rebel attacks on civilians, and state political executions left
over 1,500 dead.
"There were many other credible reports
of mass executions; on August 31, approximately 170 persons arrested
by the Government during its brief 1996 occupation of Irbil were
executed on the one-year anniversary of the Iraqi attack on that
city;... Intra-Kurdish fighting in October and November resulted
in the deaths of over 1200 fighters and an undisclosed number of
civilians." [Iraq Report on Human Rights Practices for 1997,
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US State Department,
January 30, 1998]
Political Developments:
2003 In
March, a US-led coalition declared war on Iraq and, while most
coalition forces entered southern Iraq, the US flew troops into
Kurdish-controlled, northern Iraq. The alliance formed between
Kurdish fighters and US forces resulted in the former gaining
control over significant portions of northern Iraq held by the
Iraqi government. Turkish authorities, concerned that this new
Kurdish authority would create unrest among their own Kurdish
population, threatened to intervene militarily if the Kurdish
fighters failed to relinquish certain areas, resulting in a Kurdish
withdrawal from Mosul and Kirkuk. The two main Iraqi Kurdish political
groups, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, which had joined to solidify the Kurdish bloc within the
US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, abandoned their goal to
establish an independent Kurdish homeland and indicated a federal
system within Iraq, consisting of highly-autonomous regions, would
be an acceptable political solution.
"The Bush administration has decided
to let the Kurdish region remain semi-autonomous as part of a newly
sovereign Iraq... The officials said their new position on the
Kurdish area was effectively dictated by the Nov. 15 accord with
Iraqi leaders that established June 30 as the target date for Iraqi
self-rule. Such a rapid timetable, they said, has left no time to
change the autonomy and unity of the Kurdish stronghold of the north,
as many had originally wanted." [The New York Times, January
5, 2004]
"... Kurdish leaders are adjusting
rapidly to the realities of post-Hussein politics. First, to maximize
their national influence, the PUK and the rival Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) have renounced the differences that led to civil war
in their 17,000-square-mile enclave in the 1990s. The two groups
now speak with one voice, and they say they are preparing to merge
the dual administrations that rule separate sections of the Kurdish
region in northeastern Iraq... More importantly, Kurdish leaders
say they have jettisoned their long-standing dream of an independent
ethnic homeland..." [The Washington Post, August 12, 2003]
"The alarming sight of US led Kurdish
fighters capturing northern Iraq’s oil-rich city of Kirkuk yesterday
prompted Turkey to issue a stern warning against the peshmerga staying
there too long. With as many as 70,000 heavily armed troops amassed
along the Turkish-Iraqi border, officials in Ankara said the Kurds’
permanent presence in the strategic town would not only be ‘unacceptable’
but cause for a counterattack... Officials fear control of the
region would provide Iraqi Kurds with the financial muscle to take
further steps towards independence, galvanising Turkish Kurds to
follow suit." [The Guardian, April 11, 2003]
"A northern front in the war in Iraq
began to take shape yesterday when U.S. forces flew in during the
early hours of the morning. Four C-130 transport planes carrying
troops, equipment and vehicles landed at an airstrip in this village,
10 kilometres outside Sulaymaniyah, the main city in eastern Kurdish
Iraq, according to a senior Kurdish official... The United States
and its coalition partners had planned to bring about 40,000 to
50,000 troops into the north of Iraq from bases in Turkey... but
the Turkish parliament rejected a deal worth at least $6-billion
(U.S.) to allow the coalition access to those bases..." [globeandmail.com,
March 24, 2003]
2002 Talks to reach a political
agreement between the PUK and Ansar al-Islam initiated in December
2001 were cut short after an April assassination attempt on Barham
Salih, Prime Minister in the PUK regional government. The PUK
blamed Ansar al-Islam, although the group denied all involvement.
In September, the PUK and the KDP decided to form a united armed
opposition to the Iraqi regime with support from Washington. The
US also offered military funding to four other opposition groups
to secure their support in a war against the Iraqi regime.
"Talks were held with the PUK between
December 2001 and late March 2002, aimed at arriving at a political
agreement, but the assassination attempt on April 2, 2002 against
Barham Salih, prime minister in the PUK regional government, led
to their suspension." [Human Rights Watch, February 5, 2003]
"The two main Kurdish groups that control
northern Iraq have agreed to resolve their long-standing rivalry
and form a united front to seize the opportunities that may arise
from American-led efforts to topple President Saddam Hussein. The
accord between the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan was encouraged by Washington and greeted by other
opposition figures as a sign of the pressure building against Baghdad."
[Times On Line, September 10, 2002]
"The United States approved military
funding yesterday for six Iraqi opposition groups [including the
SCIRI, the INC, the Iraqi National Accord, the Kurdistan Democratic
Party, the Movement for Constitutional Monarchy, and the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan]... Under an order signed by President Bush yesterday,
SCIRI [the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq] would
be eligible for $92 million worth of military training and defense
articles from the Pentagon as specified under the 1998 Iraq Liberation
Act." [washingtontimes.com, December 10, 2002]
2001 Reconciliation attempts
were made between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan(PUK). In September, two dissident
Islamic Kurdish groups announced the formation of Jund Al-Islam
(The Soldiers of Islam), later renamed Ansar al-Islam. In December,
the Ansar al-Islam declared a ceasefire and peace talks between
the PUK and the Ansar al-Islam were initiated.
"Massoud Barzani, the leader of the
Kurdistan Democratic Party, (KDP), hailed the recent rapproachement
between his KDP and its arch-rival, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) of Jalal Talabani. ‘I hope this will contribute to the reconstruction
of the region,’ he said. The two feuding sides have recently outlined
several confidence-building measures in a bid to implement a long
delayed peace agreement, signed in 1998 under US auspices." [Associated
Press, May 8, 2001]
"Two Kurdish dissident groups, the
Islamic Tawhid and Soran Force-2, deployed in Northern Iraq’s Sharazur
and Hawraman regions, agreed on September 1 to form a new organization
called ‘The Soldiers of Islam’. Initial reports indicate that parts
of the organization’s leadership draws from Kurdish and Arab cadres
who have returned from active service in Afghanistan." [Janes
Defence Weekly, September 19, 2001]
2000 Despite
the 1998 US-brokered peace agreement, and ongoing US mediation
efforts, relations between the KDP and PUK remained strained.
The two groups were reportedly unable to agree on sharing power
and revenues from oil smuggling to Turkey. Meanwhile, Massoud
Barzani, the leader of the KDP, pledged renewed cooperation with
the Turkish government.
[Sources: Human Rights Watch,
2001 World Report; Guardian Weekly, 11-17 January 2001; BBC
News, 5 October 2000]
"...little progress was made towards
the implementation of the provisions of the 1998 Washington Accord.
Both sides pledged to normalize relations but continued to maintain
separate administrative, legislative and executive structures in
areas under their control. On October 22, senior officials from
the two parties agreed on a series of measures, including prisoner
exchanges, the gradual return of internally displaced people to
their homes, and arrangements for the organization of free movement
of people and trade between their respective areas. Most of these
measures were not implemented." [Human Rights Watch, 2001
World Report]
"...one of the main obstacles to peace...
is the DPK’s refusal to share revenue it makes from the smuggling
trade. The DPK admits to making $75 million (US) a year from duties
on smuggled oil being trucked to Turkey through the border crossing
it controls." [The Toronto Star, 26 June, 2000]
1999 In
December, a new cabinet dominated by the KDP was formed in northern
Iraq without representation from the rival PUK. The peace agreement
between the KDP and PUK signed in Washington in 1998 made little
progress as the KDP and PUK pursued their affairs on an independent
basis.
"A new cabinet controlled by the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP) has been formed in northern Iraq. The new
cabinet is led by Nechirvan Barzani, nephew of the KDP leader Massoud
Barzania, and includes members of the Iraqi Communist Party, Democratic
Assyrian Movement, Islamic Union, Iraqi Independent Kurdistan Workers’
Party and Turcoman Cultural Union... Engaged in a power struggle
with the KDP, the Jalal Talabani-led Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK) will not form part of the new cabinet. A Washington-brokered
peace between the rival KDP and PUK made little progress and each
party runs its own affairs." [Jane’s Defence Weekly, January
5, 2000]
1998
In September the two major Iraqi Kurdish parties, the KDP and
the PUK, agreed in Washington to new power sharing arrangements
that consolidated a ceasefire agreement from late 1997. By year
end, the US government passed the Iraq Liberation Act which approved
nearly $100 million in support for Iraqi opposition groups.
"In September the leaders of the two
major Iraqi Kurdish parties, Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP) and Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
(PUK), met for the first time in several years. They agreed to increase
their efforts to implement the 1996 Ankara Accords. This consolidated
the cease-fire that the two parties established in November 1997."
[Iraq Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1998,
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State,
February 26, 1999]
1997
Although a 1996 ceasefire brokered by the US failed in October,
the fighting ended in late November with a new ceasefire agreement.
"Before the unsuccessful attempt by
British diplomats in early October to settle the differences between
the KDP and the PUK, the U.S. state department had held consultations
with Jalal Talabani, the PUK leader, in Washington to ensure that
the truce that the PUK and the KDP had signed in October 1996 held.
It failed, and the PUK withdrew from the Peace Monitoring Force
(PMF) that had been set up as part of the ceasefire." ["IRAQ: Iraqi
Kurds At Each Others' Throats Again," Dilip Hiro, IPS, October
17, 1997]
"A ceasefire established on November
24 ended the fighting for the remainder of the year, albeit with
a few sporadic clashes." [Iraq Report on Human Rights Practices
for 1997, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US State
Department, January 30, 1998]
Background:
In northern Iraq ethnic Kurds have fought
for an autonomous state since 1961 when the Kurdish Democratic Party
(KDP) launched a rebellion. After the US-led Gulf War forced Iraqi
troops from Kuwait in 1991, a Kurdish revolt ousted government forces
from most of Iraqi Kurdistan. However, Iraq quickly recaptured half
of the lost territory, triggering a massive migration of refugees.
During this time, the Iraqi government sought to establish control
over Kurdish territory by expelling the Kurds and replacing them
with Arab settlers. Many Kurds returned when US and other NATO forces
made Iraqi troops withdraw south of a line roughly along the 36th
parallel. Under foreign air control of the northern "exclusion zone,"
the Kurds gained some autonomy in spite of an economic blockade
by the Iraqi government. In 1994 a power-sharing arrangement between
the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) broke down into
severe factional fighting, while Turkish and Iranian government
forces joined Iraq in launching recurrent attacks on enemy Kurdish
groups in northern Iraq. A US-brokered 1996 KDP-PUK ceasefire failed
a year later, with renewed inter-rebel fighting adding to the death
toll, but the truce was reinstated by the end of 1997. In late 1998
the KDP and the PUK agreed in Washington to new power sharing arrangements
following which the US government approved nearly $100-million to
support Iraqi opposition groups. In December 1999, a new KDP-dominated
cabinet was formed without the inclusion of the PUK, and relations
remain strained between the two groups although some confidence-building
measures were adopted in 2001. In
2002, the PUK and KDP agreed to form a united front against the
regime in Baghdad in the event of a US-led war in Iraq. During the
year, the United States and Britain stepped up the bombing campaign
in the no-fly zones. The US-led invasion of Iraq which toppled the
government of Saddam Hussein in 2003 led to Kurdish forces seizing
a vast amount of territory in northern Iraq, which threatened to
destabilize relations between the Kurdish and Arab populations in
these areas. The inclusion of Kurdish leaders within the US-appointed
Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) brought the previously-alienated Kurds
back into the Iraqi political sphere.
"Arabisation, one of the most pernicious
Ba’athist policies, has deeply scarred Iraq. Saddam aimed to alter
the ethnic balance of the north by diluting the Kurd’s demographic
dominance. The policy involved transplanting hundreds of thousands
of Arabs. Since 1991 at least 120,000 Kurds have been forcibly displaced."
[Guardian Weekly, April 24-30, 2003]
"There is a long history of hatred
between Kurds and Turks. Turkey has fought a long and bitter conflict
with nationalist-minded Kurds within its territory. Bloodshed and
decades of efforts to suppress the Kurdish language and traditions
embittered Kurds on both sides of the border. Turkish claims on
parts of northern Iraq as a traditional homeland for Turkmen, an
ethnic Turkish population in Iraq, have also fed fears of a land
grab." [The Washington Post, February 25, 2003]
Arms Sources:
Iraq has been subject to a UN economic
and arms embargo since shortly after its annexation of Kuwait in
1990. Previously, the USSR, France, China, Brazil, and a host of
other countries sold military equipment to the Baghdad regime. Bosnia
was accused of violating United Nations sanctions by selling arms
to the regime in Baghdad. There have been reports of arms supplies
from Iran, Iraq, and Turkey to different Kurdish and Islamic rebel
factions. In 2002, the United States offered to provide military
funding to six Iraqi opposition groups, including the INC, the PUK,
and the KDP.
[Source: The Military Balance 1999-2000,
International Institute for Security Studies, 1999; BBC News,
October 27, 2002; The Washington Times, December 10, 2002]
"Bosnia’s top international representative,
Lord Ashdown, has issued a stern warning to the country’s politicians
over the alleged sale of arms to Iraq in breach of United Nations
sanctions." [BBC News, October 27, 2002]
"Baghdad smuggles arms to the Ansar
through the Kurdish area, and is using the group to make problems
for the PUK, one of the opposition factions ranged against Saddam
Hussein... But Kurdish sources also believe that Iran is arming
and training Ansar members, despite Tehran's denials. Ansar wounded
are also said to have been treated in Iranian hospitals." [BBC
News, July 24, 2002]
"Barzani reportedly sought more arms
aid from Turkey [during a September meeting with Turkish officials].
Turkey was said to be planning to give only small arms to the KDP."
[Jane’s Defence Weekly, 25 September 1996, p.6]
"... the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan,
which has received arms from Iran. There also have been reports
in recent weeks -- denied by the Iranian government but given credence
in Baghdad -- that Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been fighting
alongside the PUK." ["U.S. isolation weaken its hand," Globe
and Mail, September 4, 1996]
Also, "British media sources have claimed
that the Lucnik plant in Radom, Poland, has exported 16 containers
of weapons to Iraq...... The weapons were allegedly shipped from
the Black Sea coast to Akaba via Cyprus". [Military and Arms
Transfers News, Vol.94:2, 17 June 1994]
Economic Factors:
Many of Iraq’s oil deposits are based
in the northern region of the country, a fact which has contributed
to the armed conflict for control of these lands over the last several
decades. This is illustrated by the Kurdish seizure of the oil-rich
cities of Mosul and Kirkuk in April 2003, and the subsequent Turkish
threat of military action if these cities were not relinquished.
"In the major oil-producing districts
around the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, Kurdish and Arab
groups are currently struggling for control of land, economic resources
and political power." [The Washington Post, August 12, 2003]
"Two-thirds of Iraq’s oil, the resource
President George W. Bush says he wants to preserve for the Iraqi
people, flows out of the ground around Kirkuk and Mosul. Its quality
is significantly higher than the oil from the southern fields having
less density and sulfur. Since the major reserves were discovered
in northern Iraq in the 1920s, the prize has been at the center
of tribal wars as vicious as any. It is this oil and who controls
it that was the core of Saddam’s persecution of the Kurds in the
1980s and ‘90s; a persecution in which some 100,000 Kurdish people
died. [United Press International, April 3, 2003]
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