|
Qubad Talabani makes plea in Nashville,
Tennessee
15.4.2007 |
|
|
|
April 15, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn.-- The son of Iraq's
President and U.S. Representative of the Kurdistan
Regional Government made an emotional plea in
Nashville Saturday.
Talabani spoke at a program to remember Kurdish
victims of mass killings under Saddam Hussein.
It is estimated that 182,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed
during the Anfal campaign from February through
September 1988.
Nashville is home to the nation's largest population
of Kurdish immigrants, which numbers between 6,000
to 8,000 people.
The Vanderbilt Center for Ethics and the Kurdistan
Cultural Institute of Nashville co-sponsored the
Saturday afternoon seminar at Vanderbilt
University.. |
Qubad Talabani is representative of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) to the United States. |
The program, called "Kurdish Genocide in Iraq:
Remembering the Anfal Campaign," also featured
Michael Gunter, a historian on the Middle East and
the Kurds who has authored nine books about the
Kurdish people of Turkey, northern Iraq, Syria and
Iran; Kirmanj Gundi, Kurdish professor at Tennessee
State University; Yunis Haji, an Anfal survivor and
witness in the trials against perpetrators of the
Anfal campaign.
Qubad Talabani said the Kurds of Kurdistan region
(northern Iraq) are terrified of another betrayal by
the United States.
Talabani’s strong words were among the many voices
remembering the Kurds at the Nashville gathering.
On a screen in a Vanderbilt lecture room, atrocities
from nearly 20 years ago came back to life.
Adding voice to them were people like Younis Haji, a
Kurd who barely escaped being part of a mass grave
near the northern Kurdish city of Kirkuk.
Haji was the only person to survive being tossed
into a hole and buried alive.
Haji later testified against Saddam Hussein just
before the former Iraqi leader was executed.
Haji was happy with the outcome of the former
dictator’s trial and said, “I was very happy and so
were all my family and relatives with that.”
Haji was one of many speakers brought together by
the university, Amnesty International, and
Nashville's Kurdish community.
With several thousand Kurds, Nashville’s Kurdish
community is among the largest in the nation.
Quabad Talabani is the U.S. Representative of the
Kurdistan Regional Government.
Talabani expressed the Kurd’s opinion on the
withdrawal of U.S. troops, saying," we are well
aware of the debate in the congress about an exit
strategy, about the withdrawal, and that terrifies
the people of Kurdistan.”
Talabani went on to say that the civil society that
is slowly emerging within the middle east would be
put into jeopardy if the united states forces were
to pull out before assuring protection.
Talabani warned that Kurds would see this as another
betrayal similar to the U.S. not helping their
uprising against Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf
War.
wkrn com | newschannel5 com
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 