Baghdad's old Al-Kifah neighbourhood where many
Fayli Kurds live.
Photo Rudaw
The Kurds refer us to the central government and the
central government refers us to the Kurdistan
Region, the Fayli Kurds say. The Fayli Kurds
returned to their homes after 35 years of
displacement only to find their houses occupied by
strangers who refuse to leave.
January 28, 2012
BAGHDAD,
— The Faylis of Iraq consider themselves Kurds.
Their distinct Kurdish dialect differs from Sorani
and Kirmanji the same way Iraqi colloquial Arabic
changes from one province to another.
The Faylis suffered enormously at the hands of
Iraq’s former Baath regime. They were branded as
Iranians by Baghdad and expelled en masse from the
country in the 1970s; they weren’t even allowed to
sell their properties or take any belongings with
them.
Now, many Faylis feel they are manipulated by Iraqi
politicians trying to win over their vote. They
don’t have a political party to represent them and
thus have a sense of injustice in the new Iraq.
Muhammad Ali, deputy director of the Fayli Cultural
Organization, told Rudaw, “I attended a conferences
for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in which he
spoke about the oppression of the Fayli Kurds. He
talked about launching a satellite or a local TV
channel to air our voices, but we haven’t seen any
of those pledges fulfilled because they were simply
election promises and nothing more.”
Ali added, “He only wanted to win our votes in the
elections. He didn’t care about us.”
According to some estimates by local NGOs, around
one million Fayli Kurds live in Baghdad today,
mainly in the neighborhoods of Jamila, Sadr City,
Al-Jumhuriye, Kifah Street and other areas.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003,
many Fayli families returned to Iraq. In their
absence, their homes and properties were occupied by
other Iraqis who had government permission to live
in their homes. Ever since,www.ekurd.net
these families have been fighting through Iraq’s
intricate bureaucracy to reclaim their properties,
but it has proven a real challenge.
Ali believes it’s the government’s fault that their
properties have not been returned to them yet.
“The biggest problem is the current government which
isn’t solving the property disputes of the Fayli
Kurds,” he said. “The Fayli Kurds returned to their
homes after 35 years of displacement only to find
their houses occupied by strangers who refuse to
leave.”
In 2003, under the Coalition Provision Authority
(CPA), Iraq founded a committee to settle property
disputes. However, Ali said that neither that
committee nor private lawyers have been able to
settle the issue for the Faylis.
“We ask the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to
pressure the Iraqi government to solve our property
disputes,” he said.
Majeed Abbas, 60, returned to Iraq after the US
invasion of Iraq and founded his home occupied by
someone else. Now, Abbas said, this other family is
demanding he buy the property back from them.
“When I came back to my old house, the person who
was living there asked me to pay him 50 million
Iraqi Dinars (approximately US$40,000) simply
because he had built a second bathroom in it. As if
it wasn’t enough that he had been living in my house
for more than 30 years for free,” Abbas said.
Ahmed Najdat, 36, a Fayli grocer on Baghdad’s old
Kifah Street, believes that despite the distance
that separates them from the Kurdistan Region, the
Faylis of Iraq feel they are part of Kurdistan.
“The Kurds are our representatives because we do not
have anybody who to represent us in the Iraqi
Parliament or the government,” Najdat said. “We
consider the Kurdistani bloc to be representative of
all Kurds.”
After several years of failed attempts to reclaim
their homes and a sense of disappointment in Iraq’s
political parties, some Faylis have started to
reconsider their situation.
Majid Abdulqadir, 44, a butcher, blamed the Faylis
themselves for their current situation, saying that
they haven’t tried to get their own representation
in the Parliament or the government.
“Our votes are divided over different political
parties and sects,” Abdulqadir said. “We cannot get
social services in Kifah Street if wanted to because
we do not have representatives. The Kurds who are in
the Parliament represent the Kurdish region. We have
nobody to represent us in Baghdad.”
Abdulqadir believes lack of political experience
among Faylis is another reason for their plight.
“The Fayli Kurds do not have the political awareness
to see their own interests and they lack the
political experience to be able to vote for the
right person,” he said. “We had many Fayli
candidates but they did not get enough votes due to
division among us and the lack of awareness.”
Fayli neighborhoods are considered among the poorest
in all of Iraq and lack basic services such as
sanitation, roads and health care.
Selma Ashur Saqir, director of the Fayli Women’s
Cultural Organization in the Jamil quarter, believes
the Fayli Kurds -- especially women -- have the
fewest opportunities to find employment.
“We believe as Fayli Kurds that we have fewer
chances than others in getting jobs or employment
due to marginalization by both Kurds and Arabs,” she
said. “The Kurds refer us to the central government
and the central government refers us to the
Kurdistan Region. So we suffer and don’t have the
same rights as others.”
By Jasim Al Sabawi
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
rudaw.net
Top |
®
