The Brussels Declaration on Faylee Kurds

The Brussels Declaration on Faylee Kurds

adopted by The First International Conference

on Faylee Kurds held at the European Parliament on 2 May 2016

Introduction:



Faylee Kurds are a substantial segment of the Kurdish people and an original constituent section of the Iraqi people. They are peaceful, hardworking and ambitious. Faylee Kurds are progressive people striving to achieve social mobility and economic advancement. They have their own home-areas, in both Iraq and Iran, and their own Kurdish dialect. Their problems, inherited from the former regime, have not been redressed and the new problems and threats they have faced since 2003 have not been addressed by the Iraqi authorities.



Faylee Kurds have faced problems relating to nationality and citizenship issues since the founding of the state of Iraq after World War One by the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 and the passing of the first Iraqi Nationality (Citizenship) Law No. 42 of 1924.

However, their problems took a dangerous and steep turn when the Baath Party, with its (ultra)nationalist ideology, came to power in 1963 and again in 1968. The Baath regime revealed its deep hostility towards the Faylee Kurds and treated them very harshly, adopting a policy of mass forcible deportation, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

The Baath regime forcibly deported more than 50,000 Faylee Kurds during 1969-1971 and nearly 600,000 Faylee Kurds in a well-orchestrated campaign which lasted from 1980 to 1990.

That regime declared Faylee Kurds Iraqi nationality (citizenship) null and void, taking all of their official documents, confiscating all of their movable and immovable property before forcibly deporting them to Iran under very harsh and inhumane conditions, interning thousands of their youth and young men. "More than 20,000" of these internees have forcibly disappeared without a trace. The Baath regime did all this on the flimsy pretext that they are of "foreign origin" and the trumped-up charge of disloyalty to the "higher nationalist and social objectives of the revolution" (decision 666).



The decision to declare null and void the Iraqi nationality (citizenship) of Iraqi Faylee Kurds and to forcibly deport and uproot them from their homeland Iraq was taken by the Revolution Command Council, the highest authority in the State of Iraq then, namely, decision No. 666 dated 07.05.1980, which was published in the Iraqi Official Gazette number 2776 dated 26.05.1980.



The Iraqi High Criminal Tribunal has judged that the crime of deporting and killing Faylee Kurds as a crime of "genocide" and a “crime against humanity” by its verdict issued on 29/11/2010.

The Iraqi Parliament also deemed these crimes as "genocide" by its decision No. 18 of 2011, which was ratified by Presidential Decree No. 6 of 2012.

The Iraqi government pledged in its decision No. 426 of 2010 to remove “the negative effects” on Faylee Kurds resulting from the policies, actions and decisions of the former Baath regime against them.



The First International Conference on Faylee Kurds was held at the European Parliament on 02.05.2016, sponsored by the Social Democrats, the biggest group in the European Parliament. It was supported by the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) and backed by the Kurdish Institute in Brussels. Member of the European Parliament, European academic, people from Iraq and from all parts of Kurdistan and numerous Faylee Kurds attended the conference. These Faylee Kurds, women as well as men, young and old, come from various walks of life, having diverse political, social and economic backgrounds, representing the whole spectrum of Faylee Kurd society and community.

The Conference approved the following recommendations:



1. The Conference appeals to the European Parliament and the European Union to pass a decision considering the crimes committed against the Faylee Kurds as a crime of genocide, similar to its decision on Yazidis, Christians and Shabak. There are legal and political grounds for such a decision. Iraq ratified in 1959 the Geneva Convention of 1949 on the prevention of the crime of genocide. Moreover, the Iraqi High Criminal Tribunal and the Iraqi Parliament have judged these crimes as “genocide”, as mentioned above.



2. The conference demands from the Iraqi authorities the full implementation of all laws and decisions issued since 2003 about the Faylee Kurds without delay and procrastination on any pretext, including those relating to citizenship, identity and other documents and confiscated property.



3. The conference requests Iraqi and Kurdish political forces to end the marginalization of Faylee Kurds and their role in the decision-making centers of power, in the legislative and executive branches, in both Baghdad and Arbil.



4. The conference demands from the authorities in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, to include Faylee Kurds in the Constitution of the Region, similar to Yaizidis, Shabak and Kaka'is, and to allocate them quota seats in the Region's Parliament.



5. The Conference requests the Iraqi authorities to recognize Faylee Kurds as one of a constituent section of the Iraqi people with its own distinct characteristics, issues and problems.

6. The conference urges the Iraqi and US authorities (which have moved tons of documents of the former Baath regime out of Iraq after 2003) to provide confirmed information about the fate of the more than 20000 young Faylee Kurd detainees who have forcibly disappeared without a trace.



7. The conference demands from the Iraqi authorities to put an end to all forms and kinds of discrimination, open and concealed, against Faylee Kurds by the State and give Faylee Kurds equal opportunities on the basis of citizenship only.



8. The conference demands from the Iraqi authorities to facilitate the return of all the forcibly displaced and deported Faylee Kurds to their areas of origin; it also demands the rebuilding and reconstruction of these areas destroyed by the former regime, such as Khanaqin, Saadia, Jalawla, Mandali, Badra, Jassan and areas in the provinces of Wasit and Misan, in addition to areas in Baghdad.



9. The Conference requests the Iraqi authorities to demarcate Faylee Kurd areas in the provinces of Diyala, Wasit and Misan, recognizing them as one contiguous Faylee Kurd home-area, which Faylee Kurds can manage and organize their local affairs by themselves.

10. The Conference asks the Iraqi and Iranian authorities to provide information on the number of the population of the areas inhabited by Faylee Kurds, each in its respective country.



11. The conference demands from the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities to protect and care for the language, culture and heritage of Faylee Kurds and to ensure education and study in their own mother tongue in their home-areas.



12. The conference agreed to continue, broaden and strengthen work and cooperation with the Kurdistan National Congress and to coordinate with them on the basis of mutual interests and for the common-good, in order to, among others, include in their agenda establishing contacts and organizing seminars and conferences in various European countries with the aim of informing both the authorities and the public, at the local and international levels, about the crime of genocide and the crime against humanity committed against Faylee Kurds.



13. The Conference agreed on organizing lectures and seminars at local universities and research centers in Europe as well as at international institutions on issues relating to Faylee Kurds and their plight in order to attract European and other researchers and intellectuals to carry out research on these issues.



14. The conference agreed to organize cultural events and information meetings for Kurds with the aim of providing information about the ethnic cleansing and genocide suffered by the Faylee Kurds so that this information reaches the Kurdish public opinion in all parts of Kurdistan.



The conference thanks the Social Democratic Group in the European Parliament for facilitating and providing material and logistical support to this successful First International Conference on the Faylee Kurds. It also thanks the Kurdistan National Congress for its efforts in convening and organizing the conference. The conference thanks all those attending and participating in the conference and the media that covered this important event.



The First International Conference on the Faylee Kurds



Held in the European Parliament in Brussels – Belgium

2 May 2016