Shafaq News
In eastern Baghdad, a 64-year-old woman lives in plain sight
— yet remains invisible. Born and raised in Iraq, she has no identity card, no
ration card, no property documents. Her name exists only in an aging archive
file.
For tens of thousands of Feyli Kurds, her case is the norm.
Decades after mass deportations and state-led persecution, many still lack
citizenship, property deeds, or basic legal recognition. The gap between
belonging and acknowledgment is not merely bureaucratic — it shapes
inheritance, opportunity, and entire family histories.
In 2010, the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court ruled that the
Baath-era campaign against the Feyli Kurds constituted genocide. Parliament
endorsed the ruling the following year. Yet the obligations tied to that
decision — restoring nationality, returning confiscated homes, identifying mass
graves — remain largely unrealized.
If the judiciary has already established the truth, what
still prevents the state from recognizing its own people?
A Ruling Without Implementation
The 2010 genocide verdict briefly raised hopes that decades
of unresolved rights were finally approaching justice. Instead, the process
became tangled in committees — first within the Ministry of Culture, then the
abolished Ministry of Human Rights, and later the Cabinet Secretariat under
decrees No. 122 and 33. These bodies were tasked with tracking citizenship
claims, property restitution, martyrs’ records, and compensation files. Their
impact, however, has been slow and inconsistent.
A draft law designed to enshrine Feyli Kurdish rights has
circulated among ministries but has remained inactive in parliament for two
years. Meanwhile, hundreds of basic procedures — from issuing identity
documents to verifying the fate of the disappeared — remain stalled.
On November 30, the High Coordinating Committee of the Feyli
Kurds warned that key institutions continue to avoid prioritizing
genocide-related cases, leaving families stripped of their rights in 1980 to
“navigate the system as if they were outsiders,” despite constitutional
guarantees.
For most families, the struggle is not only about documents.
It is about ending decades of silence — and ensuring the state fulfills its own
laws.
Read more: Genocide survivors: Feyli Kurds seek true political representation
Voices From Within
Recently elected MP Haider Ali Abu Tara, who now represents
the Feyli Kurds in parliament, told Shafaq News that the community’s rights
“lie in enforcing the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court’s genocide ruling,” which
mandates justice for displaced families, martyrs, and detainees.
He says the next government is obligated to implement the
court’s decisions, noting that “the majority of Feyli Kurds have not regained
their rights — especially in property disputes and the application of Article
140 — because no one was defending them effectively in parliament and
government.”
Abu Tara adds that increasing parliamentary seats dedicated
to the community, ensuring their presence in ministries, and intensifying the
search for the remains of martyrs are essential steps “to guarantee enforcement
of the court’s decisions and achieve justice.”
Fouad Ali Akbar, Adviser on Feyli Kurdish Affairs in the
Iraqi Parliament, speaking to Shafaq News, notes that although Law No. 426 of
2010 was issued to remove the consequences of genocide, “subsequent laws were
never fully activated due to noncompliance by several institutions.”
He explains that while the 2006 Nationality Law restored
citizenship to tens of thousands, the process is now hindered in some offices.
Similarly, laws on displaced persons, land grants, and compensation “are not
being applied as required.” Property disputes have grown more complex, often
pushed into primary courts, while procedures at the Martyrs Foundation face
delays caused by institutional bottlenecks.
Political adviser Munir Haddad explained to Shafaq News that
the delays in fulfilling Feyli Kurdish rights reflect a wider “slowdown across
state institutions,” where political actors “prioritize personal gains over
victims’ rights.” Despite official recognition of genocide, he says, government
shortcomings persist, leaving files on citizenship, the missing, compensation,
property restitution, and political representation “unresolved and overdue.”
A History of Erasure and Displacement
The Feyli Kurds — a Shia Kurdish community with historic
roots in Baghdad, Wasit, Diyala, Khanaqin, Mandali, and surrounding regions —
were woven into Iraq’s commercial and cultural life for generations.
Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, the former regime
revoked their nationality, seized their properties, and deported hundreds of
thousands to Iran under decree No. 666. Approximately 22,000 men and boys
disappeared during mass arrests. Many were detained in Nugrat al-Salman, the
Fifth Division Prison, Prison No. 1, and Abu Ghraib before being executed and
buried in unmarked graves — yet civil records continued to list them as alive.
The community’s social, economic, and political foundations
were dismantled. A once-visible segment of Iraqi society was forced into legal
and existential limbo.
On 6 January 2025, the Martyrs Foundation announced the
launch of formal proceedings concerning the missing Feyli Kurds. Tariq
al-Mandalawi, head of its legal department, said a specialized court was formed
by the Supreme Judicial Council in coordination with the Prime Minister’s
Office.
So far, only 70 death certificates have been issued — a
fraction of the total. Families searching for answers face delays caused by
limited forensic capabilities, shortages in DNA technology, incomplete
archives, and the absence of mapped burial sites. These obstacles have prompted
renewed appeals for international assistance, particularly in identifying
remains.
At a 2025 conference marking the UN Day for Victims of
Enforced Disappearances, Maher al-Feyli, Secretary-General of the Feyli Kurdish
Front, accused successive governments of failing to uphold constitutional and
legal obligations, leaving families without closure.
Why the Feyli Case Still Matters
The plight of the Feyli Kurds exposes deep structural
weaknesses in Iraq’s institutions. A genocide ruling without implementation
raises central questions about citizenship, minority rights, and the state’s
capacity to confront past abuses.
It also poses moral questions: How can a community feel part
of a nation that has not acknowledged their suffering? And how can Iraq move
forward while mass graves remain untouched, the missing unaccounted for, and
rights unfulfilled?
Across Iraq, Feyli Kurds continue to call for clear,
concrete steps: legislation, restitution, identification of mass graves,
compensation, and genuine political representation.
Their struggle is, at its core, a fight for identity and
belonging in a country they have called home for generations.
Until these commitments become reality, many remain exiled
within their own homeland.
Read more: Faili Kurds: Decades of injustice VS. Iraq’s struggle to reconcile with its past
Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.
