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Mullah Denies Responsibility for Kurdish
Riots in Iraqi Kurdistan
5.12.2011 |
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December 5, 2011
ZAKHO,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The preacher blamed
for inciting widespread riots last week in Dohuk
province has denied accusations that he provoked his
followers into destroying businesses deemed
un-Islamic.
Following Mala Ismail Osman Sindi’s Friday sermon in
which he claimed prostitution was occurring in
massage parlors in the Kurdish border town of Zakho,
a group of young men set alight the town’s only
massage parlor, a dozen liquor stores and three
hotels. Many of the businesses were owned by
minority Christian Assyrians and Yezidis.
The violence later spread to the city of Dohuk and
Sumel, |
A scene from Zakho's Friday riots. Photo Rudaw |
where rioters torched the offices of the Kurdistan
Islamic Union, ransacked.
In an interview with Rudaw, Sindi said, “I’m not the
only one talking about massage parlors. Everyone
else is talking about it and I may have been the
last person to address that issue. In my sermon, I
only said that instead of massage parlors, people
should build mosques.”
Saeed Ibrahim, a resident of Zakho who attended
Sindi’s service, told Rudaw, “After the mullah spoke
about massage parlors, one man stood up and shouted
‘Since there are haram (un-Islamic) things in Zakho,
we should not tolerate it and we should destroy
them.’”
Sindi confirmed that someone indeed stood up and
encouraged people to burn the massage parlors.
“But I told him that if he left to attack the
parlors before the Friday sermon was over, his
prayers wouldn’t be accepted (by God),” said Sindi.
“The person was a member of the Kurdistan Islamic
Union.”
Samyan Abdulkhaliq, director of the office of
religious affairs in Zakho, told Rudaw that they
will investigate Sindi.
“We’ll investigate and if we find out that that
mullah did indeed encourage people to be disruptive,
we will take our own measures with him even before
the courts take the case,” he said.
An eyewitness to Friday’s incidents in Zakho told
Rudaw, “After the Friday sermon, a large number of
people gathered in front of the massage parlor,
attacked and set it on fire. Later on, they stormed
liquor stores and women’s hair salons.”
Ramazan Ismail Mustafa, head of the tourism
department in Zakho said, “Twenty liquor stores,
three hotels, a massage parlor and a women’s hair
salon were set on fire.”
According to Ismail Mustafa Rashid, the mayor of the
town of Sumel, four liquor stores were burnt in
their town.
Zakho is located on Iraqi Kurdistan’s border with
Turkey. It is about 300 miles north of Baghdad and
less than 10 kilometers from Turkey, and is
considered one of the most important trade gateways
of Iraq.
Zakho is an ethnically and religiously diverse town
where Kurds, Assyrian Christians, Yazidis,www.ekurd.net
Armenians and some Arab families live side by side.
According to eyewitnesses, some rioters tried to
attack the Christian quarter of town on Friday, but
the guards of political party offices opened fire
above people’s heads and stopped them from reaching
the neighborhood.
Later on Friday, a group of people torched an
Islamic Union office in Zakho. Later the Islamic
Union’s offices were stormed in Duhok, Sumel and
Kasrok.
Ismail Ravandi, a member of the Islamic Union’s
leadership, told Rudaw, “In total, 10 of our party
offices were destroyed in Duhok province, among them
radio, TV stations and newspaper offices.”
Ghazi Saeed, the head of the Islamic Union’s branch
in Dohuk, estimated the damage was about US$10
million.
Following last week’s unrest, the Islamic Union and
the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls
Dohuk province, exchanged sharp words and
accusations.
The KDP held the Islamic Union responsible for
causing the violence and the Islamic Union said the
people who attacked its offices were members of the
KDP.
Abu Zerro, KDP’s acting representative in Zakho
said, “It’s so obvious. A few days before the
incidents, plans (for the attack) had been drawn up
inside the local offices of the Islamic Union;
therefore, the Islamic Union is responsible for what
happened.”
But Nasraddin Saeed, head of the Islamic Union’s
branch in Zakho, rejected the KDP’s claims, saying,
“It was only an excuse to attack our offices.”
Saeed said, “We heard the KDP was planning to attack
our offices and we immediately called the city’s
police chief, but he said ‘You are behind the unrest
and you’ll have to pay the price.’”
KDP’s Abu Zerro said that Saeed made the situation
worse by talking to the media and saying that his
office was under threat before anything had
happened.
“I tried to get in touch with him and tell him to
try to calm down the situation,” Abu Zerro said.
“If, in his statement to the media, he had told
people to maintain order, their offices wouldn’t
have been attacked.”
Ashti Kochar, Dohuk’s security chief, told Rudaw
that the Islamic Union seemed to have braced itself
for the attacks at least a week in advance.
“A week before the incidents, the Islamic Union
evacuated all their buildings in Zakho and one night
before the incidents, they broadcasted a program on
their television channel in which they encouraged
people to act against liquor stores and massage
parlors.”
Abdulwahid Taha, an anchor at the Islamic Union’s
local TV channel in Zakho, said the channel had
aired a program the night before the attacks where
viewers called in and expressed their anger against
the city’s liquor stores and massage parlors.
“On the day of the attacks, the Islamic Union’s main
office was completely evacuated hours before the mob
reached them,” Taha said.
In a press conference on Saturday, Salahaddin
Bahaddin, secretary-general of the Islamic Union,
held the KDP responsible for the attacks on his
party’s offices.
“Yesterday’s events in the Badinan region didn’t
have anything to do with Islamic Union,” Bahaddin
said. “Those events are scenarios to kill any chance
of reform and peace. Therefore we hold the KDP,
Kurdistan’s presidency and the government
responsible for those attacks on our offices and we
will take matter to court.”
On Friday, the KDP condemned the violent acts in an
official statement. The KDP also rejected the claims
of the Islamic Union accusing the KDP of inciting
people to storm their offices.
Jaafar Ibrahim, spokesperson for KDP’s politburo
said, “Accusing the KDP is unfair. The events were
still unfolding when a group of people started
accusing the KDP of causing it all. It reminded us
of the events of February 17 when our office (in
Sulaimani) was attacked and they later blamed us for
it.”
Ibrahim said he doesn’t think one mullah alone could
incite that much violence.
“What happened in Zakho was pre-planned,” he said.
“Many other mullahs have said things more hostile
than the mullah in Zakho and yet no one acted on
their words. But in Zakho, it was obviously a plan
and some people waved banners reading ‘There Is No
God but Allah.’ Groups of people had been assigned
to attack certain places.”
But the Islamic Union denied any connections to the
violence.
A statement by the party read, “The Islamic Union
does not have any preachers in that city (Zakho) to
justify the violence.”
Ravandi, of the Islamic Union, said, “Why did the
police and security forces not seal off the offices
of the Islamic Union? Not only that, the police
stood among the people and looked on, without doing
anything to stop them.”
KDP’s Abu Zerro in Zakho said, “The riots were huge
and there weren’t enough security forces to control
it all. The security forces were busy maintaining
the city’s security and if there were enough of them
to protect the Islamic Union offices, they would
have also been able to protect the liquor stores and
massage parlors.”
On Saturday, Kurdistan Region President Massoud
Barzani released a statement in which he condemned
the incidents of Zakho.
“Unfortunately, on Friday some mullahs and a group
of youth committed unlawful acts and caused
instability in Zakho,” Barzani’s statement read.
“They attacked some tourist locations especially
those of Christians and Yezidis and it seems the
attacks had been pre-planned.”
Barzani said instability in the Kurdistan region is
unacceptable and that a special committee will
investigate Friday’s incidents and bring the
perpetrators to justice.
“Protecting harmony among Kurdish communities is not
only the responsibility of Kurdistan government,” he
said in his statement. “It’s everyone’s
responsibility and we won’t allow anyone to threaten
this harmony.”
Barzani also described the attacks on the Islamic
Union as “an unjust act.”
By Hevidar Ahmed and Ahmed Iminki
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