Kurds, Christians, Jews and Bahá-í: persecuted and oppressed in the Middle East

The frantic investigations into the terrible attacks in New York and Washington suggest not only connections to Osama bin Laden and the Taliban in Afghanistan. There seem to be trails leading to Saddam Hussein as well. Because Iraq’s dictator considers the USA to be arch-enemy No. 1. At the latest since his occupying forces have been kicked out of Kuwait by American and Allied units in 1991. At the time, Northern Iraq which is populated by Kurds and Assyrian-Aramaic Christians, had been declared a protected zone. A catastrophe was averted at the last minute: 1,5 million Kurdish and Assyrian-Aramaic refugees were able to return to their villages after they had been driven out by Iraqi troops into the snow-covered mountains close to the Turkish border.

For decades the Kurds and Assyrian-Aramaic Christians have suffered under the destructive policy of the Baath regime. Up to half a million Kurds, and amongst them tens of thousands of Aramaic Christians and Yezidi, have fallen victim to the regime. About two million Kurds and Assyrian-Aramaic Christians were deported, far more than 4.000 villages destroyed. When in the late eighties the Iraqi air-force attacked 200 mainly Kurdish villages in Northern Iraq with poisonous gas the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) alarmed the public. About 150.000 Kurdish and Assyrian-Aramaic civilians lost their lives in this so-called "Anfal"-offensive. Between March 16th and 18th 1988 about 5.000 Kurds died an agonizing death in the town of Halabja alone, due to poisonous mustard gas and Tabun vapors, around 10.000 were severely injured. Up to this day survivors suffer from skin rashes, disease of the respiratory system and blindness.

German companies had been involved in building up the Iraqi poisonous gas industry, despite severe human rights violations and despite continuing terror against minorities. Again and again the GfbV issued warnings, in particular about the activities of the company Karl Kolb GmbH & Co KG as well as their subsidiary Plant Engineering and Equipment GmbH in Dreieich, Hessian. Since 1981 these companies had been delivering equipment to Iraq for the production of herbicides which is also suitable for the production of poisonous gas. When the worst fears were confirmed due to the horrible poisonous gas attacks 1987 we blamed both companies for complicity. They obtained a temporary injunction against us at the district court of Bonn: we were warned of criminal proceedings with a penalty of up to one million DM and told to be quiet. Backed by Israeli sources we repeated the accusations a few weeks later. The injunction was reversed by the Higher Regional Court of Cologne. Then employees of the companies were arrested. However, at the beginning of 1994 the manager and two employees were acquitted. According to the judge the reasons for judgment were attributable to unsuitable penalty provisions. The proceedings had led to the "bitter insight" that for 30 years the federal republic had enabled the export of chemical equipment that is capable of bearing arms.

At the beginning of October 2001 Iran has started to heavily secure closed borders to Afghanistan. The country is not willing to take in more than the two million refugees who are already staying in Iran. Many members of old-established religious minorities like Bahá-í, Jews and the Assyrian-Aramaic Christians, however, have fled Iran. They could no longer bear the continuing discrimination and persecution. Sayed Mohamad Chatami, Iranian President who in Europe is regarded as a reformer, hasn’t taken any steps neither to encourage respect for about 35.000 Jews in Iran nor to protect 300.000 Bahá-í. For the Assyrian-Aramaic Christians, who up to the end of the seventies numbered at least 80.000, life is being made difficult as well. They used to be able to practice their religion without hindrance. There were Christian schools, cultural clubs and magazines. Since 1979 "Islamic Regulations", as well as overt discrimination and humiliation have made it impossible for Christians to cultivate their culture, tradition and language.

The Islamic revolution 1979/80 has been a profound turning point for all religious minorities in Iran. The Jews are exposed to continuing discrimination ever since, whereas before they had been tolerated as members of a book-religion for centuries. The Jewish community has shrunk by about half. Due to an arbitrary verdict by the Iranian justice ten Jewish people have to serve harsh prison sentences since summer 2000.

However, it’s even worse for the Bahá-í, Iran’s largest religious minority. The GfbV has repeatedly drawn attention to this, making statements to the press. The Bahá-í are being persecuted collectively. Constantly they have to be prepared for arrest and harsh sentencing – just because of their denomination. Since 1979 more than 200 Bahá-í were sentenced to death. We work closely together with the exiled Bahá-í-community in Germany. We have repeatedly opposed executions and arrests. Since 1983 the Bahá-í community in Iran has officially been banned, all nine members of their national spiritual council have disappeared. Around 10.000 Bahá-í have been dismissed from the administrative and educational sector, children and young people are denied school, university and professional training. Around 1863 the monotheistic Bahá-í-Religion was founded by Bhá-ullah who is worshipped as prophet. However, the Bahá-í-Religion has been damned by Islamists right from the beginning, because according to the Muslim creed Mohammed is the superior and historically last prophet.

"Germany and Syria united in the fight against terrorism", the german news agency dpa announced a few weeks after the attacks against the USA. Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had addressed Syrian’s President Baschar Al-Assad concerning a peaceful solution for the Middle East conflict. Above all, however, the approximately two million Kurds in Syria are in need of advocacy. They are persecuted and brutally oppressed. In July 2001, during the visit of Baschar Al-Assad, we staged a quiet demonstration in front of the Chancellor’s office in Berlin, using banners to demand civil rights and the abolition of torture and arbitrary justice. Our action was met with good media response throughout Germany. The Arabian nationalist Baath-Party is trying to dominate the Kurdish population by means of expropriation and expulsion, withdrawal of nationality and basic civil rights as well as strict denial of Kurdish identity. Their language, their institutions and culture are oppressed. Up to this day nationality is being withheld for more than 200.000 Syrian Kurds. They are excluded from political and all other social developments and condemned to impoverishment. The number of Kurds amongst political prisoners is high in Syria. Many are detained without judgment. Hundreds died after torture and mistreatment.

After the dreadful terror attacks in New York and Washington the commitment to human rights for Kurds and Assyrian-Aramaic Christians as well as other religious minorities in countries of the Middle East is particularly important now. We do not want to accept diplomatic silence about severe human rights violations as the price for an international alliance against terror. Please support our party-political independent human rights work with a donation addressed to the account No. 1909 at the Sparkasse Göttingen, BLZ 260 500 01.

Translated by Bärbel Heimansberg