ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - As French authorities work to identify the bodies of 27 migrants, many believed to be Kurds from Iraq who drowned this week trying to cross the English Channel, the National Assembly in Paris rejected a motion on Friday which formally recognizes the genocide committed against Kurds under the former Baath regime.
The resolution discussed on Friday details decades of atrocities committed against Kurds by the regime of Saddam Hussein, saying "far from simple counter-insurgency operations, it was the Kurdish people who, in their entirety, were to be exterminated" and "calls on the French government to recognize the genocide and promote reparations for the damages suffered by the victims and their dependents."
The resolution was rejected with nine in favor and 17 against.
Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime carried out several genocidal campaigns against the restive Kurdish population. In 1983, about 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were rounded up, abducted from their homes in the Zagros Mountains, and taken to the deserts of southern Iraq where they were killed.
More than 182,000 Kurds were killed in two years of the Anfal campaign that began in 1986. In 1988, around 5,000 people were killed when the regime dropped chemical weapons on the city of Halabja.
Decades after these atrocities, many Kurds say not enough is done to document the crimes and help the victims who still carry the physical and emotional scars.
France played a key role in a 1991 United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Baghdad's repression of Kurds, and in imposing a no-fly-zone over Kurdish areas and providing humanitarian relief. Danielle Mitterrand, first lady of France from 1981 to 1995, was influential in advocating for these measures and is affectionately known as the "Mother of Kurds."
On Monday, the anniversary of her death, the mayor of Halabja Nuxsha Nasih joined local officials in paying tribute at a statue of Mitterrand in the city.
ئەمڕۆ، لەساڵیادی کۆچی دوای خاتوو دانیال میتران ، کە دۆستێکی نزیکی کورد بووە بەدایکی کورد ناسرابوو ، چەپکەگوڵی دڵسۆزی و بەئەمەکی و وەفای شاری هەڵەبجە و کوردستانمان پێشکەش بە پەیکەری دایکی کورد کرد ، لەبەرامبەر ئەو خزمەتەی کە بەدۆزی ڕەوای گەلەکەمان کردبوو .@O_Decottignies pic.twitter.com/7ZvT3LztyH
— Nuxsha Nasih (@nuxshanasih) November 22, 2021
The parliamentary resolution notes that the persecution of Kurds did not end with the overthrow of the Baathist regime in 2003. "Even after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi Kurds continued to be victims of violence, discrimination, and barbaric acts, notably by soldiers of the Islamic State and Shiite militias; the desire to "arabise" the Kurdish people and Iraqi Kurdistan still has not disappeared," it states.
The resolution went on to formally call France “an ally of the Kurdish people,” calling “on the French Government to recognize this genocide and to promote reparation for the damage suffered by the victims and their dependents.” The Iraqi parliament acknowledged the Anfal campaign as a genocide on April 14, 2008.
This year, thousands of Kurds have left the Kurdistan Region and tried to emigrate to Europe. They are not fleeing war or violence, but are looking to escape despair, corruption, and repression. Students staged days of protests this week, demanding reinstatement of a living allowance that was cut in 2014 as part of austerity measures. Their protests were met with violence.
Kurdish migrants are taking increasingly risky routes through Turkey, across the Aegean or Mediterranean, and most recently through Belarus.
Forty Kurdish migrants returned to the Kurdistan Region via Sulaimani International Airport on Friday after being held in Libya for over two months. They were arrested when their boat took them to Libya instead of Europe, which they were hoping to reach.
Hundreds others were repatriated from Minsk in the early hours of Friday morning, and arrived in Erbil saying they will try another way to get to Europe. It is believed that many of the 27 people who drowned in the English Channel this week are Kurds.
