RANIYE, Kurdistan Region— Quarter of a century has passed this week since Kurds in Iraq spontaneously took to the streets and started an uprising in March 1991 that would continue for nearly a month and gradually set the grounds for what later became the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
The anniversary is celebrated this year as daily clashes with ISIS forces along the borders continue to upset Kurdish plans for economic recovery amid one of the most serious austerity measures the region has experienced since early 1990s.
The initial uprising began modestly on 5th of March 1991 in the bordering town of Raniye, but it soon took a wider form as people in larger cities of Erbil, Sulaimani, Dohuk and even Kirkuk similarly defied the infamous security forces and successfully ousted regime institutions in Kurdish areas.
Aiyse Xidir vividly remembers the day when her now famous husband, Eli Nebi, organized a small group of Peshmarga in Raniye and fired the first bullets against the terrifying security men in the city. These first clashes are largely seen as the trigger behind the historic rebellion.
“It was in the early morning and no one knew what was going to happen. But Eli took the initiative and fired at the security forces in the city and it soon turned to open street clashes,” said Aiyse about her husband’s bravery for which Eli would be remembered long after his death.
“He then went on to lead the Peshmarga operations in other cities and came back only when the uprising was complete,” she said.
Demoralized by the swift defeat in the Gulf War, Iraqi army seemed incapable of simultaneously manage the unrest in Shiite south and the armed uprising in the Kurdish north. But the government soon recuperated and led a brutal clampdown of the ongoing unrest in major Shiite cities killing some 100,000 protesters.
The former ruler, Saddam Hussein, then mobilized the army and launched a counter attack in the north and tried to retake control of Kurdish territories in April 1991. As the news of mobilization reached Kurdish areas, panic broke out and almost the entire population, some 3 million people, evacuated the cities and fled towards Turkish and Iranian borders, fearing Saddam’s undoubted vengeance.
“The Peshmarga had nothing to fight with, no bullets and no guns really. We in our house tried to manage the guns we already had found and distribute them among willing Peshmarga,” Aiyse said about the chaotic days in late March and early April 1991 when disorganized and heavily undergunned Peshmarga tried to resist the army.
Finally, the US-led coalition set up a safe heaven zone in the north of the country, which would soon facilitate the return of Kurdish refugees. The Peshmarga could then hold on to most of their newly liberated areas but Kirkuk was again recaptured by government forces and remained so until 2003 when Saddam was toppled in the US-led invasion of the country.
Nearly all towns and cities will celebrate the anniversary of the uprising this month with different activities and festivals despite challenging time the region is facing with plummeting oil prices and ISIS’ persistent war machinery.
