Iraq's FM: Saddam Hussein viewed the Fayli Kurds as a threat despite complex relation

Shafaq News/ Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Wednesday said Saddam Hussein's regime treated the Fayli Kurds, Baghdad's economic powerhouse back then, with "hate" and "prejudice" and punished them for opposing his vision.

The minister's remarks were made during the second day of the International Scientific Conference on Genocide against the People of Kurdistan, held in the semi-autonomous region's capital city, Erbil.

"The Baathist ideology is an Arabist one, meaning that anyone living on this land, even if they were Kurdish, had to assimilate and become part of this ideology related to the philosophy of Arab nationalism," he said.

The minister said that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had a complex relationship with the Fayli Kurds, oscillating between love and hate.

"Saddam Hussein was born in Tikrit and raised in Baghdad, and he was a mischievous person," he continued, "he was friends with the mischievous individuals in Baghdad, most of whom were Fayli Kurds."

Hussein also noted that Saddam had good relations with Fayli Kurd rebels but opposed the politicians and capitalists in this community.

Upon assuming power, Baghdad's economy was predominantly run by the Fayli Kurds; he said, "Fayli Kurds in Baghdad worked in two directions: some inclined towards the communists and the other toward the Kurdistan Democratic Party."

"However, their primary work was for the benefit of Kurds and Kurdistan. The financial support of the Democratic Party came from Baghdad. i.e., from the Fayli Kurds," he added.

"The economic situation in Baghdad was under the control of a class whose views were incompatible with the Baath regime, which interpreted this as a threat to the Baath Party," he concluded.