Persecution of Kurds

The persecution of Kurds is the ethnic and political persecution which is inflicted upon Kurds by the governments of Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq.

20th century

The newly declared Turkish Republic leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk repudiated the Treaty of Sèvres which proposed a referendum be conducted in the Kurdish homeland. As a result, conflict continued between the Turkish military and the Kurds. This conflict still exists today.

After the Dersim massacre, 40,000-70,000 civilians were killed by the Turkish Army and 11,818 people were exiled, depopulating the province.[1] Nuri Dersimi stated that many tribesmen were killed after surrendering, and women and children were locked into hay sheds which were then lit on fire.[2] 30,000 Kurds were massacred by the Turkish Army after the rebellion.[3]

The Zilan massacre killed about 15,000 Kurdish civilians and the Zilan River was full to the brim with dead bodies.[4][5][6][7]

The Kuşkonar massacre killed 38 people, 13 in Koçağılı and 25 in Kuşkonar. Most of the victims were children, women or elderly, including seven babies. 13 people were injured.[8] Later the Turkish Armed Forces blamed the PKK and used the massacre as propaganda. The Turkish government refused to start investigating despite complaints of surviving villagers.[8][9]

The 3-year-long Anfal campaign Killed 50,000 to 100,000 non-combatant Kurdish civilians.[10] Kurdish officials claimed the figure could be as high as 182,000.[11] 1,754 schools, 270 hospitals, 2,450 mosques, and 90% of the Kurdish villages were destroyed.[12]

21st century

The 2021 Konya massacre was the killing of a Kurdish family in Turkey. 4 women and 3 men were killed as a result.[13][14] According to an interview given by members of the family to Duvar, the attackers where close to the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) who did not want to permit Kurds to live in the neighborhood.[15]

The Roboski massacre was the killings of 40 Kurdish villagers on the night of December 28, 2011. They were coming from Iraq towards the Turkish border. They were mostly teenagers from the Encü family of Ortasu (in Kurdish: Roboskî) in the Uludere district of Şırnak Province, Turkey.[13] They were smuggling cigarettes, diesel fuel and other goods into Turkey, riding on mules.[16][17][18]

Later in 2020, Pro-Iran protesters torched Kurdish party offices in Baghdad.[19]

List

Name Date Location Deaths
Diyarbakir massacre 1925 Diyarbakır 15,200[20]
Zilan massacre 1930 Van 15,000[21]
Zini Rift Massacre 1938 Kılıçkaya 95[22]
Muğlalı incident 1943 Özalp 32[23]
Maraş massacre 1978 Marash 3,000[24]
Kurdish villages depopulated by Turkey 1984–2009 Turkish Kurdistan 30,000[25]
August 1986 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq 1986 Iraqi Kurdistan 165[26]
Anfal campaign 1989 Iraqi Kurdistan 50,000-182,000
Murder of Zübeyir Akkoç 1993 Diyarbakır 1[27]
Lice massacre 1993 Lice 30[28]
Vartinis massacre 1993 Muş 9[29]
Güçlükonak massacre [tr] 1996 Güçlükonak 11
Kuşkonar and Koçağılı massacre 1994 Şırnak 38[30]
26 July 1994 bombing of North Iraq 1994 Iraqi Kurdistan 79
December 2007 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq 2007 Iraqi Kurdistan 201
2008 Turkish incursion into northern Iraq 2008 Iraqi Kurdistan 237
2011 Hakkâri attack 2011 Hakkâri 72
August 2011 Turkey–Iraq cross-border raids 2011 167
Roboski massacre 2011 Uludere 34[31]
September 2012 Beytüşşebap attack 2012 Beytüşşebap 46
Triple murder of Kurdish activists in Paris 2013 Paris 3[32]
Death of Berkin Elvan 2014 Okmeydanı 1[33]
2015 police raids in Turkey 2015 Turkey 1
Siege of Silvan (2015) 2015 Silvan 12
2015 Hakkari assault 2015 Hakkâri 119
Siege of Sur (2016) 2015–2016 Sur 200
December 2015–February 2016 Cizre curfew 2015–2016 Cizre 178
April 2017 Turkish airstrikes in Syria and Iraq 2017 70
Turkish airstrikes on Sinjar (2018) 2018 Sinjar 5[34]
Murder of Deniz Poyraz 2021 Konak 1[35]
2021 Konya massacre 2021 Meram 7[36]
Turkish airstrikes on Sinjar (2021) 2021 Sinjar 11[37]
Zakho resort attack 2022 Zakho 9[38]
2022 Paris shooting 2022 Paris 3

References

  1. ^ "Resmi raporlarda Dersim katliamı: 13 bin kişi öldürüldü", Radikal, November 19, 2009. (in Turkish)
  2. ^ "The Suppression of the Dersim Rebellion in Turkey (1937-38) Page 4" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2013-12-24.
  3. ^ Gerlach, Christian (2016). The Extermination of the European Jews. Cambridge University Press. p. 401. ISBN 978-0-521-88078-7. But by far the bloodiest violence targeted Kurds during the Dersim uprising of 1937–38, when Turkish troops massacred about 30,000 people.
  4. ^ Yusuf Mazhar, Cumhuriyet, 16 Temmuz 1930, ... Zilan harekatında imha edilenlerin sayısı 15.000 kadardır. Zilan Deresi ağzına kadar ceset dolmuştur... (in Turkish)
  5. ^ Ahmet Kahraman, ibid, p. 211, Karaköse, 14 (Özel muhabirimiz bildiriyor) ... (in Turkish)
  6. ^ Ayşe Hür, "Osmanlı'dan bugüne Kürtler ve Devlet-4" Archived 2011-02-25 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, October 23, 2008, Retrieved August 16, 2010. (in Turkish)
  7. ^ Ayşe Hür, "Bu kaçıncı isyan, bu kaçıncı harekât?" Archived 2012-09-18 at the Wayback Machine, Taraf, December 23, 2007, Retrieved August 16, 2010. (in Turkish)
  8. ^ a b "Case of Benzer and others v. Turkey" (PDF). The European Court of Human Rights (Mass execution of Kurdish villagers): 57. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  9. ^ "HÜLYA DİNÇER YAZDI: Hakikatin Gücü, Barışmanın İmkânı". Bianet - Bagimsiz Iletisim Agi. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
  10. ^ GENOCIDE IN IRAQ Human Rights Watch, 1993
  11. ^ The Crimes of Saddam Hussein – 1988 The Anfal Campaign PBS Frontline
  12. ^ "List of the churches been demolished by Saddam Hussein's regime" (PDF). Capiraq.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 March 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
  13. ^ a b "Konya massacre: 'Turkey must confront racist hatred'". Bianet. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Angriff auf kurdische Familie in Konya: Sieben Tote - UPDATE". Firat News Agency (in German). 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  15. ^ "Turkish ultranationalists attack Kurdish neighbors in Turkey's Konya". Gazete Duvar. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  16. ^ "Uludere'de Sağ Kurtulan Encü Anlattı". Aktif Haber (in Turkish). 2012-01-02. Archived from the original on 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  17. ^ "Questions grow over Uludere intel failure". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 2013-12-30. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  18. ^ "35 Tabuta Kilometrelerce Gözyaşı". Haberler (in Turkish). 2011-12-30. Archived from the original on 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
  19. ^ "Pro-Iran protesters torch Kurd party offices in Baghdad".
  20. ^ Üngör, Ugur Ümit (2011), The making of modern Turkey : nation and state in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950, Oxford University Press, p. 129, ISBN 9780199603602
  21. ^ Ahmet Kahraman, ibid, pp. 207–208. (in Turkish)
  22. ^ "Zini Gediği katliamına soruşturma". www.demokrathaber.org (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  23. ^ Aras, Ramazan (2013-11-12). The Formation of Kurdishness in Turkey: Political Violence, Fear and Pain. Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-134-64871-9.
  24. ^ David McDowall (2004). A Modern History of the Kurds: Third Edition. I.B.Tauris. p. 415. ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0.
  25. ^ Jongerden, Joost (2007-05-28). The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatial Policies, Modernity and War. BRILL. p. 82. ISBN 978-90-474-2011-8.
  26. ^ Dosyaları, Türkiye ve Dünya Haberleri, Analizler, Yorumlar, Makaleler, Araştırma. "PKK'ya yönelik ilk hava harekatı böyle yapılmıştı". www.dunyabulteni.net/.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ "Akkoç v. Turkey Judgement of October 10, 2000". Archived from the original on May 2, 2008.
  28. ^ Ron, James; Watch (Organization), Human Rights (1995). Weapons Transfers and Violations of the Laws of War in Turkey. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 9781564321619.
  29. ^ "Turkish military guilty of killing family of 9, blamed on PKK fo". January 10, 2016. Archived from the original on 10 January 2016.
  30. ^ "Case of Benzer and others v. Turkey" (PDF). The European Court of Human Rights (Mass execution of Kurdish villagers): 57. 24 March 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  31. ^ "Uludere'de Sağ Kurtulan Encü Anlattı". Aktif Haber (in Turkish). 2012-01-02. Archived from the original on 2012-01-08. Retrieved 2012-01-06.
  32. ^ "Les trois militantes kurdes ont été assassinées de plusieurs balles dans la tête". Le Monde.fr (in French). Agence France-Presse. 2013-01-11. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
  33. ^ "Çocuk mezarlığında yaşıyormuşuz". Yeni Özgür Politika (in Turkish). 1 July 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  34. ^ Turkey strikes YBŞ vehicles in Shingal, killing local PKK leader, Rudaw English
  35. ^ Kepenek, Evrim (18 June 2021). "Attack on HDP İzmir office: Party worker Deniz Poyraz killed". Bianet.
  36. ^ "Angriff auf kurdische Familie in Konya: Sieben Tote - UPDATE". Firat News Agency (in German). 2 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  37. ^ A commander and a fighter of YBŞ martyred in Turkish attack in Shengal, Firat News Agency, 16 August 2021
  38. ^ AFP. "Five Iraqis killed in shelling officials blame on Turkey". www.timesofisrael.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-20. Retrieved 2022-07-20.