Andorra Conference Spotlights Kurdish Struggles and Genocides Across Borders
Kurdish activist Tchiayi Emin details repression, genocides, and unfulfilled independence promises for Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria at.
Key Points
- Post-WWI promises of Kurdish independence referendum failed, fragmenting territory across four nations.
- Turkey's 1990s campaign destroyed 3,000 villages, displacing 2-3M Kurds and banning their language.
- Iraq's Anfal genocide (1988) killed 182,000 via chemicals, executions; Emin fled the attacks.
- Ongoing discrimination persists in northern Iraq beyond military actions.
A conference in Andorra has highlighted the decades-long struggles of the Kurdish people, focusing on repression across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
Tchiayi Emin, a Kurdish activist now living in Montauban, France, addressed an audience that included former Andorran head of government Jaume Bartumeu, University of Andorra rector Juli Minoves, and the country's sole Kurdish resident. Emin, a friend of local lawyer Valentí Martí, has sent a letter to current head of government Xavier Espot proposing areas of collaboration. Around 400,000 Kurds live in France.
Emin traced the Kurds' plight to the Ottoman Empire's collapse after World War I. Western powers promised the Kurds—a people numbering among the world's largest without a state—a referendum on independence, but it never materialised. Instead, their territory fragmented across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, enabling assimilation policies, cultural suppression, and economic marginalisation.
In Turkey, governments have long targeted the Kurdish population in the southeastern region. Following the emergence of the PKK guerrilla group and uprisings, a 1990s military campaign destroyed around 3,000 villages, displaced two to three million people, killed thousands, and banned the Kurdish language and culture. Many fled to Syrian Kurdistan to escape.
Emin outlined four major episodes he described as genocides. In Iraqi Kurdistan, these included repressive campaigns in the 1970s and 1980s; the 1983 elimination of over 8,000 Barzani clan members; and the 1988 Anfal operation, which killed 182,000 through chemical bombings, mass executions, and mass graves—many still being uncovered. Saddam Hussein's regime defied international bans by using chemical weapons against civilians and pursued a scorched-earth policy. Emin himself fled the 1988 violence, escaping through the mountains.
He also cited the 2014 ISIS genocide against the Yazidi religious community in northern Iraq.
Today, pressures extend beyond military action to cultural and structural discrimination, particularly in northern Iraq.
Original Sources
This article was aggregated from the following Catalan-language sources: