Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report
on February 26, 2015 documenting abuses by the Kurdish security forces against
Arab villages in Iraq’s Ninewa province. The group documented cases of limiting
movement of Arabs, destroying homes, and warrantless arrests. The press has
sporadically reported some of these stories before, but this paper was the most
thorough. These examples all showed how the Islamic State has caused deep
feelings of mistrust between ethnosectarian groups in Iraq that will take years
to overcome.
Kurdish forces have limited the freedom of movement of Arabs
in Ninewa governorate. After several districts in Ninewa were freed of the
Islamic State the peshmerga and Asayesh did not allow displaced Arabs to return
to their homes. This happened in places like Makhmour city to the southeast of
Mosul. The stated reason was that it was not safe. At the same time, Kurdish
citizens were allowed into many of those same areas. In other cases there were
four districts where Arabs had not fled during the fighting and they were
cordoned off by the Kurdish security forces. This covered roughly 40 villages
with around 20,000 people. The residents of these towns could not leave and
could not go to work if they were outside of these zones. Again Kurds could
move in and out of these places. Human Rights Watch met with Kurd officials in
December 2014 to question them about these policies. The government
representatives said that they could discriminate against Arabs who worked with
IS. On another occasion a spokesman for the Peshmerga Ministry said it would
take time before Arabs could move freely in Ninewa because there was so much
animosity against them because of the insurgency. In both cases it appeared
that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was enforcing collective
punishment upon Arabs in these districts. While some locals obviously did
welcome the insurgents when they took over the region, it is likely impossible
to determine exactly who those people were across such a wide width of
territory. Not only that even Arabs who fled in the face of IS are being
persecuted as well by not being allowed back to their homes. Finally, if this
was due to security concerns then why were Kurds being allowed into and out of
these areas?
Kurdish forces have been accused of destroying Arab homes.
There were various cases of this discovered throughout the Makhmour and Zummar
districts, the latter of which is to the northwest of Mosul. Some were burned,
some bulldozed, and some blown up. Some had pro-Kurdish and anti-Arab graffiti
sprayed painted across them. Local officials, the Asayesh and the Peshmerga
Ministry blamed the IS, fighting and Coalition air strikes for the damage.
Human Rights Watch did find examples of that such as in Rwala in Makhmour where
IS had wrecked houses. In other towns however, such as Qaraj and Gwar
suspicions were raised because Arab homes were destroyed while Kurdish ones
were untouched. Kurdish and Arab residents said that Kurdish forces destroyed
some homes of people they believed worked with IS. In Zummar three Kurds
witnessed peshmerga burning and blowing up homes after it recaptured the area
from the militants, and in Bardiya houses had been set fire to and bulldozed.
This was motivated by the fear that the homes were booby-trapped or because
they believed the owners were IS supporters. In Makhmour Kurds told Human
Rights Watch that Kurdish civilians burned some Arab homes for the same reason.
There was no telling whether any of these homes actually belonged to IS backers
or not. Rather it showed the deep seated desire for revenge that the group has
generated in the forces fighting it. Both the peshmerga and civilians wanted to
strike back at the group and killing its fighters was not enough. They wanted
to expel anyone they suspected of being associated with the group as well, and
destroying their homes was the best way to achieve that.
Human Rights Watch found cases of warrantless arrests and
the abuse of prisoners. In five villages of Makhmour 70 Arabs had been taken
away from August 2014 to January 2015 by the Kurdish security forces. By the
end of January 2015 63 of them were still being detained with no charges being
filed against them. They were also not being allowed to talk with their
families. There were fears that they might be mistreated as well. Human Rights
Watch found seven videos posted from June to December 2014 that appeared to
show Peshmerga and Asayesh members abusing captives such as using electric
shock and threats. Other human rights groups have documented torture, beatings,
warrantless arrests and prisoners being held incommunicado before by the KRG. Kurdistan
like the rest of Iraq has a flawed justice system that lacks due process, and
has a long history of abuse.
Human Rights Watch was not the first to note these types of
actions by the Kurds. There have been several news stories on the same topics
in Ninewa and other provinces, but they have not been as comprehensive. For
example, Amnesty International’s Donatella
Rovera went to Barzanke, Ninewa in the winter of 2014, and found all the
houses destroyed there. Some of that was done by IS, but the peshmerga might
have been involved as well. Some local Kurds said they wrecked houses because
they believed they belonged to IS supporters, and stated that they didn’t want
any Arabs back either. In December,
a commander from the Khorasani Brigade accused peshmerga of bulldozing Arab
homes in Diyala’s Jalawla to prevent them from returning. Niqash, Al
Mada and Al
Monitor reported similar stories in Jalawla and Ninewa. Again, the main
motivation for these incidents was revenge against people accused of supporting
the Islamic State.
The need for security and the desire for retribution
appeared to drive most of the Kurdish actions in Ninewa, but there was another
issue at play as well. First, the Kurds did need to make sure the areas they
had re-captured were safe. Precautionary measures needed to be taken to protect
against booby trapped houses and sleeper cells hiding amongst the displaced as
these have both been tactics employed by the Islamic State. Then again, the
thirst for revenge and the mistrust of Arabs in general were also major
factors. Many people were accused of being IS supporters, but how much of that
was based upon real evidence of simply lumping all Arabs together as being
pro-insurgent? Finally, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) would like to
annex these areas in Ninewa, and pushing out Arabs from some of these regions
would serve that purpose. The KRG has claimed many of these areas were cleared
of Kurds by Saddam Hussein and then Arabized by the government. Having Arabs
leave would ensure the Kurdishness of these disputed territories. Whatever the
case may be the demographics of many of these villages in Ninewa are being
changed in the aftermath of the Islamic State. The group has caused such deep
divisions it might take a generation to overcome all the damage it has done to
Iraqi society.
SOURCES
Ali, Dashty, “A New Northern Frontline Where Iraq’s Kurds
And Shiites Are Facing Off,” Niqash, 12/18/14
Coles, Isabel, “Rivalries resurface in Iraqi town recaptured
from Islamic State,” Reuters, 12/8/14
Human Rights Watch, “Iraqi Kurdistan: Arabs Displaced,
Cordoned Off, Detained,” 2/26/15
Al Mada, “Jalawla officials describe it as “distressed city”
and Daash burned mosques and buildings before withdrawal,” 12/24/14
Natali, Dr. Denise, “Iraqi Kurdish land grabs anger Sunni
Arabs,” Al Monitor, 1/29/15
Rovera, Donatella, “Stoking the fire of Iraq’s sectarian
conflict,” Annahar, 11/1/14
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