Failis foresee bitter days for supporting Kurdistan Region independence
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Ali Faili, like many other Faili Kurds, is unsure of the future of his people in Iraq's capital of Baghdad after they have expressed support for the Kurdistan Region to hold an independence referendum this fall.
“Arabs and their militias will take their anger out on the Faili Kurds,” Ali Faili, a Shiite Kurd living in Khanaqin and running a restaurant, told Rudaw.
He said bitter days for Kurdish Failis will again emerge because Kurdistan will hold a referendum and separate from Iraq. He is pondering selling his piece of land in Baghdad.
Now, many Faili Kurds like Ali do not feel secure concerning their properties, homes, and their lives in Baghdad.
Ali lived in Baghdad, but after the fall of Saddam Hussein he left for Khanaqin where he has been running a restaurant.
Last month, Saad Mutalibi, a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council from the State of Law Coalition led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, warned Kurds in Baghdad that if the Kurdistan Region was determined to hold a referendum to build a state of their own, they would strip them of Iraqi citizenship and evict them from the city.
Jawad Kazim Ali Malaksha explained that the Kurdish Faili public congress, a group close to Maliki, visited him and expressed their concerns over Mutalibi’s words. He said Maliki had told them that Failis are Iraqis and will be protected. But Malaksha says nobody is happy with these words.
Malaksha, who works as a journalist, warned that threats against them are on the rise amid independence talks.
“Now that the question of the Kurdistan Region independence is getting hot, pressures on the Faili Kurds in Baghdad have started,” said Malaksha.
Malaksha believes it is very difficult for a minority group like Failis to protect themselves on the streets of Baghdad. Failis do not live in a single area in Baghdad, he explained.
“Even doing so, we will still be unable to defend ourselves,” Malaksha said.
He said “robbers” in Baghdad are just waiting for a day when tensions break out so they can seize the opportunity and storm people’s houses and occupy them as they did to many Christians.
Since Mutalib publicly threatened the Kurdish residents of Baghdad, many people have taken to social media expressing their outrage.
“Their main purpose is to intimidate Kurds and force them to leave Baghdad, then loot their house and properties,” said Nazira Ismael, member of the Kurdish Faili Society board.
He pointed the finger of blame at Shiite militia groups operating within the Hashd al-Shaabi.
“Those spreading such threats are more associated with Asaib ahl-Alhaq group,” Ismael said.
There is no official data to indicate the size of the Kurdish population in Baghdad, particularly for Failis. Malaksha estimated that the number of Faili Kurds in all of Iraq is between 200,000 and 250,000.
Faili Kurds are Shiites have mainly lived in the south of Baghdad and in areas on the southern edge of the Kurdistan Region. There is also a large population in Iran.
In Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, many were wealthy leaders of the business community and strong supporters of Kurdish independence movements. That, along with their Shiite faith, made them the target of persecution by the regime of Saddam Hussein which is now labeled as genocide by the Iraqi High Court.
In the 1970s under Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan Bakir, oppressions against Kurdish Failis started. When Saddam Hussein came to power, ethnic cleansing against them peaked.
In the early years of 1980, a massive campaign to capture Faili youth took place and many families, numbering 600,000, were forcedly deported to Iran. They were not allowed to take their identification papers with them on the pretext of originally being foreigners in Iraq.
Additionally, thousands were killed. In total, as many as 1.4 million Failis were stripped of their citizenship and deported to Iran between the 1960s and 1980s. After the overthrow of Hussein’s regime, fewer than 15,000 have returned. Today many Faili Kurds still do not have citizenship documents.
The Iraqi High Criminal Court declared Faili Kurds victims of ethnic cleansing on November 29, 2010.
“Arabs and their militias will take their anger out on the Faili Kurds,” Ali Faili, a Shiite Kurd living in Khanaqin and running a restaurant, told Rudaw.
He said bitter days for Kurdish Failis will again emerge because Kurdistan will hold a referendum and separate from Iraq. He is pondering selling his piece of land in Baghdad.
Now, many Faili Kurds like Ali do not feel secure concerning their properties, homes, and their lives in Baghdad.
Ali lived in Baghdad, but after the fall of Saddam Hussein he left for Khanaqin where he has been running a restaurant.
Last month, Saad Mutalibi, a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council from the State of Law Coalition led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, warned Kurds in Baghdad that if the Kurdistan Region was determined to hold a referendum to build a state of their own, they would strip them of Iraqi citizenship and evict them from the city.
Jawad Kazim Ali Malaksha explained that the Kurdish Faili public congress, a group close to Maliki, visited him and expressed their concerns over Mutalibi’s words. He said Maliki had told them that Failis are Iraqis and will be protected. But Malaksha says nobody is happy with these words.
Malaksha, who works as a journalist, warned that threats against them are on the rise amid independence talks.
“Now that the question of the Kurdistan Region independence is getting hot, pressures on the Faili Kurds in Baghdad have started,” said Malaksha.
Malaksha believes it is very difficult for a minority group like Failis to protect themselves on the streets of Baghdad. Failis do not live in a single area in Baghdad, he explained.
“Even doing so, we will still be unable to defend ourselves,” Malaksha said.
He said “robbers” in Baghdad are just waiting for a day when tensions break out so they can seize the opportunity and storm people’s houses and occupy them as they did to many Christians.
Since Mutalib publicly threatened the Kurdish residents of Baghdad, many people have taken to social media expressing their outrage.
“Their main purpose is to intimidate Kurds and force them to leave Baghdad, then loot their house and properties,” said Nazira Ismael, member of the Kurdish Faili Society board.
He pointed the finger of blame at Shiite militia groups operating within the Hashd al-Shaabi.
“Those spreading such threats are more associated with Asaib ahl-Alhaq group,” Ismael said.
There is no official data to indicate the size of the Kurdish population in Baghdad, particularly for Failis. Malaksha estimated that the number of Faili Kurds in all of Iraq is between 200,000 and 250,000.
Faili Kurds are Shiites have mainly lived in the south of Baghdad and in areas on the southern edge of the Kurdistan Region. There is also a large population in Iran.
In Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, many were wealthy leaders of the business community and strong supporters of Kurdish independence movements. That, along with their Shiite faith, made them the target of persecution by the regime of Saddam Hussein which is now labeled as genocide by the Iraqi High Court.
In the 1970s under Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan Bakir, oppressions against Kurdish Failis started. When Saddam Hussein came to power, ethnic cleansing against them peaked.
In the early years of 1980, a massive campaign to capture Faili youth took place and many families, numbering 600,000, were forcedly deported to Iran. They were not allowed to take their identification papers with them on the pretext of originally being foreigners in Iraq.
Additionally, thousands were killed. In total, as many as 1.4 million Failis were stripped of their citizenship and deported to Iran between the 1960s and 1980s. After the overthrow of Hussein’s regime, fewer than 15,000 have returned. Today many Faili Kurds still do not have citizenship documents.
The Iraqi High Criminal Court declared Faili Kurds victims of ethnic cleansing on November 29, 2010.