Faili Kurds: Decades of injustice VS. Iraq’s struggle to reconcile with its past
Shafaq News/ The Faili Kurds (Feyli), an integral yet historically marginalized community in Iraq, have endured decades of systemic oppression, forced displacement, and cultural erasure. Despite their significant contributions to Iraq's social, economic, and cultural fabric, they remain one of the most persecuted groups, grappling with unresolved grievances and institutional neglect.
A Legacy of Displacement and Suffering
Their community is primarily located in Baghdad and central Iraq and continues to face numerous challenges, including the issues of martyrs, property disputes, and compensation claims. They also suffer from ongoing "unfair" treatment by certain government agencies, leading to delays in processing their cases.
They endured forced deportation, imprisonment, and even execution during the regime of former President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in 1970 and 1975, and later under Saddam Hussein’s rule in 1980. Historians assert that these actions were motivated by sectarian and ethnic factors.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Baathist regime launched a massive campaign to deport nearly half a million Faili Kurds, revoke their Iraqi citizenship, and seize their properties, both movable and immovable. Estimates indicate that at least 15,000 Faili young men were forcibly relocated to unknown destinations, with their fate largely unknown. It is believed many perished in detention centers or were buried alive in mass graves. Moreover, prominent Faili merchants and academics, especially in Baghdad, were specifically targeted.
Government estimates suggest that between 1980 and 1990, around 1.3 million individuals went missing—victims of executions, deaths in prisons, or enforced disappearances. The Faili Kurds, once a wealthy and educated community, particularly in Baghdad, had many who held high-ranking positions due to their pursuit of education.
In 2010, the Iraqi High Criminal Court issued a ruling recognizing the deportation, disappearance, and confiscation of Faili Kurdish rights as acts of genocide. That same year, the Iraqi government vowed to reverse the harmful effects of these targeted actions against the Faili Kurds. The Iraqi Parliament, in 2011, passed a resolution declaring their forced deportation and disappearance as genocide.
Despite the fall of the Baathist regime, the Faili Kurds have yet to fully reclaim their rights. Many who returned to Iraq faced significant obstacles in reapplying for their citizenship or regaining their original Iraqi nationality, with persistent barriers preventing them from achieving justice and recognition.
Legislative Efforts and Ongoing Struggles
In this context, the Kurdish Faili affairs advisor in the Iraqi Parliament Fuad Ali Akbar explained that the former regime issued decision No. 666 in 1980, which stripped the Faili Kurds of their Iraqi nationality, labeling them as Iranians. Among the most heinous crimes committed were forcing married men to divorce their Faili Kurdish wives in exchange for money, or face exile with their wives or imprisonment if they refused.
While many of these crimes have been documented since the fall of the regime in 2003, efforts to fully record and address the extent of crimes against the Faili Kurds are still insufficient.
MP Fouad Ali Akbar, stated, "The Criminal Court acknowledged that the crimes committed against the Faili Kurds constitute genocide. Based on this, the Prime Minister issued the decision No. 426 in 2010, which promised to rectify the harmful effects of the genocide against them."
He further elaborated, "A committee was formed within the Ministry of Culture to address these injustices, followed by another in the Ministry of Human Rights (which was later dissolved). These committees made significant progress in addressing the widespread issues."
"Later, the PM issued Decree No. 122, forming another committee linked to the Secretariat General to address the harmful effects on the Faili Kurds. This committee included members from various relevant ministries, including those handling nationality, immigration, property disputes, and martyrs' affairs. This committee achieved many things related to the Failis’ issues."
"Subsequently, Decree No. 33 was issued to establish a new committee within the Secretariat of the Cabinet. This committee continues to follow up on Faili Kurdish issues, though some unresolved matters require legal amendments. As a result, there is a move towards legislating a law to organize the rights of the Faili Kurds."
"Some of their issues are due to legal deficiencies, necessitating new legislation or amendments to address these errors. All the challenges faced by the Failis must be regulated by law. Therefore, a draft law was prepared to organize their rights and submitted to relevant ministries for feedback. The draft was later presented to various parties within the Iraqi Parliament, but it has been shelved for two years without progress."
Calls for Fairer Representation in Politics
Observers note that several issues concerning the Faili Kurds are still marred by delays and inequity. One such issue is the allocation of a single seat for them in the Iraqi Parliament, which many believe is insufficient given their large population. There are calls to increase their parliamentary representation to five seats, reflecting their true demographic size and concentration in Baghdad, Diyala, and Wasit.
Independent politician Haidar Hisham Faili argued that while successive governments since 2003 have issued several decisions regarding the Faili Kurds' rights, “the problem lies in the execution of these decisions and the bureaucratic hurdles within some related agencies,” pointing to the delay in the Iraqi Parliament's implementation of the Federal Court’s ruling to increase the Failis' parliamentary representation, similar to that granted to the Christian minority.
Member of the Baghdad Provincial Council, Amer Faili, also supported this call, highlighting that the Faili Kurds were originally granted a parliamentary quota for Wasit province only. However, a Federal Court ruling (45/Federal) later determined that Iraq should be considered a single electoral district, similar to the Christian and Sabean-Mandaean communities. This decision should have been implemented in the previous election law to allow all Faili Kurds across Iraq to choose a representative, but it was not applied.
He added that another ruling (43/Federal), which took into account the equality of Faili Kurds and Christians who have five seats in parliament, was also disregarded in the previous election law. The Iraqi Parliament is currently working on a new election law for the upcoming November elections, and it is expected that this issue will be addressed in the new legislation.
Regarding the Faili Kurdish population, he emphasized that the figures remain unclear. The latest census conducted by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning “ignored ethnicity and religion,” which he deems inaccurate. Properly accounting for the true numbers of Failis, along with other minority groups like Christians, Yazidis, and Shabaks, is crucial for the fair distribution of political representation and resources. Since the true numbers remain undetermined, it is puzzling that other communities have been granted more than one seat.
Concerning their return to Iraq, Amer Faili pointed out that “a report from the UNHCR in 1997 estimated that approximately 597,000 Faili Kurds had been displaced to Iran. However, there is no clear data on the number of returnees.”
“The Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced Persons reported in 2010 that since 2003, approximately 100,000 Faili Kurds have regained their nationality. This number is modest compared to the number of people originally displaced, especially considering the births and family expansions over the 43 years since the mass displacement. Granting these individuals and future generations their rightful nationality is an essential and overdue step.”
Legal Action to Address Missing Faili Kurds
On January 6th, following decades of waiting, Tariq Al-Mandalawi, the Director of the Legal Department and Head of the Faili Kurdish Affairs Committee at the Martyrs Foundation, announced the initiation of the process to complete the legal procedures for the missing Failis, who number approximately 22,000 individuals.
Al-Mandalawi stated, “The Foundation communicated with the office of the Prime Minister regarding the issue of the missing Faili martyrs. The office, in turn, reached out to the Supreme Judicial Council, leading to the formation of a specialized court to address their fate, especially since most of them are still listed as alive in civil records.”
“The Foundation has worked to expedite the processing of cases and the issuance of death certificates through the competent court. The Personal Status Court has reviewed their cases, recognized them as martyrs, and included them under the provisions of the Martyrs Foundation Law No. 2 of 2016.”
Al-Mandalawi further revealed that “A total of 70 death certificates have been issued for these individuals so far.”
He encouraged the families of the missing martyrs to visit the Legal Department's Faili Kurdish Affairs Committee at the Martyrs Foundation to complete the processing of their cases.
Al-Mandalawi also highlighted that, according to statistics, there are 22,000 martyrs among the missing, most of whom were detained in prisons such as Qurnat al-Salman Prison, the Number One Prison, the Fifth Division Prison, Abu Ghraib, and other facilities. "These martyrs were buried in mass graves, but they are still registered as alive in civil records," he added.
In response to this longstanding issue, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior issued a directive in April 2024 to remove the freeze and cancel the suspension on Faili Kurds wherever they may be, following a request from the then-Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Mohsen Al-Mandalawi. This measure aims to remove the negative effects of the Baathist regime's actions against this community.
