Setting the record straight

[greenleft at peg.pegasus.oz.au]

Setting the record straight on the Kurds

By Peter Boyle

Recent Kurdish condemnation of governments long considered to be 
in the ``socialist'' camp and the pretended Western support for 
the Kurds have caused some confusion on the left. As well, some 
Arab nationalists are reluctant to support the Kurds, accusing 
them of being a Western tool and of seeking to break up Iraq.

The Kurds are one of the few nationalities in the world with a 
large population (more than 15 million) yet without a state. In 
the Middle East today, they share the plight of the Palestinians 
and the Armenians.

The colonial carve-up of the Ottoman Empire in 1916 left the 
Kurds' traditional territory divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq 
and Syria. They have been repressed in each of these countries. 
(Smaller numbers of Kurds also live in the Soviet Union.)

In 1920, the Kurds led a revolt against British colonial rule in 
the Gulf. In response, Turkey made a deal with France to grab a 
bigger slice of Kurdish teritory. Another uprising took place in 
1923 and was crushed by the British army. The British suppressed 
another Kurdish rebellion in 1931. In 1946, the short-lived 
Kurdish republic of Mahabad was founded with Soviet support but 
was crushed by the shah of Iran with British assistance.

In 1956, under the aegis of Britain and the US, Turkey, Iran and 
Iraq signed the Baghdad Pact, which included a clause providing 
for coordinated repression of Kurdish revolts in any of these 
couuntries.

When the British puppet monarchy in Iraq was overthrown in 1958, 
the new military government renounced the Baghdad Pact and 
proclaimed a republic based on ``the free association of Arabs 
and Kurds''. However, five years later the Iraqi government began 
repressing Kurds, and an armed struggle began.

In 1963, the Baathist Party staged a coup and organised a cease-
fire with the Kurds but then proceeded to massacre Iraqi 
communists. Many communists fled to Kurdish territory for 
protection. (To this day, the only armed communist units in Iraq 
are part of a united front with the Kurdish Democratic Party.) 
The Baathists then turned against the Kurds. That year the Soviet 
Union declared support for the Kurdish movement.

When the Baathists were ousted by more conservative military 
officers in 1964, the new regime followed its predecessor and 
offered to recognise Kurdish national rights. Once again this 
turned out to be a ruse, but it split the Kurdish movement before 
fighting broke out again. Another cease-fire was agreed in 1966.

The Baathists came back to power in 1968 and relaunched war 
against the Kurds. After signing an agreement for Kurdish 
autonomy in 1970, the Iraqi regime began a program of 
assassinations against Kurdish leaders.

In 1972 the Soviet government signed a friendship and cooperation 
treaty with the Baathists, opening a shameful era of 
collaboration with one of the world's bloodiest dictatorships. 
With Soviet military supplies, the Baathist regime was able to 
inflict heavy casualties on the Kurds.

To counter Soviet influence in Iraq, the CIA began supplying some 
aid to the Kurds via the shah of Iran, according to King Hussein 
of Jordan, then on the CIA payroll. But in March 1975 the shah 
made an agreement with then vice-president Saddam Hussein to cut 
off support to the Kurds, thus ensuring their defeat. This brief 
episode of cynical US exploitation of the Kurdish struggle has 
been used to cover far greater crimes against the Kurds.

Saddam Hussein then began his program of Arabisation of Kurdish 
territories, relocating or wiping out entire villages.

In 1979, the Kurds helped topple the shah of Iran, but soon the 
new government under Ayotollah Khomeini turned against them.

In 1980 Saddam Hussein, with Western backing, invaded Iran. The 
Kurds began armed struggle again, and Iran opportunistically 
offered them support. Over the next few years, most Iraqi 
opposition groups formed a united front with the Kurds.

Thousands of Kurds in Iraq ``disappeared'' over the next few 
years. In 1988, Saddam killed 5000 Kurdish villagers in Halabja 
with chemical weapons. There was hardly any international outcry. 
The components for the chemical weapons came from the West, and 
the planes that dropped them were from the Soviet Union. The 
Western press suddenly rediscovered Halabja in 1990.

Before the Gulf War, the Kurds halted military operations and 
called for a peaceful solution and a democratic Iraq. The Bush 
administration called upon the Iraqi people and the Kurds to 
depose Saddam Hussein. When Saddam's forces appeared defeated, 
the Kurds and the Shiite opposition in the south launched an 
uprising. Suddenly Bush changed his tune and said what he really 
meant was that the Iraqi armed forces should topple Saddam in a 
coup. The US allowed the same armed forces to massacre the 
rebels.

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Reprinted from Green Left, weekly progressive newspaper. May 
be reproduced with acknowledgment but without charge by 
movement publications and organisations.