Iraq - Monstrous Tyranny Imposed by Pseudo-Kurds on Christians and Turkmen in Erbil

Erbil is an ancient Assyrian city the name of which (Arba ilu) means in Assyrian – Babylonian "Four Gods" (implying Assur, Ishtar, Shamash, and Sin). It was the religious capital of Assyria, and the temple of Ishtar at Erbil was one of Mesopotamia´s greatest centers of learning, science, knowledge, and art.

After thousands of years of Mesopotamian history and culture, Arbela (as it became known in Ancient Greek and Latin) reserved a certain cultural radiation at the times of the empires of the Late Antiquity (Achaemenidian, Macedonian of Alexander the Great, Seleucid, Arsacid and Sassanid).

As the indigenous Assyrian population left no trace, Aramaeans from other parts of the defunct Assyrian empire (which was mostly inherited by the Nabonid Babylonians, 625 – 539 BCE) settled there and Aramaean civilization thrived there until the early Islamic times, when Aramaeans adopted Islam in great numbers and the remaining Christian and Gnostic Aramaeans organized their cultural life in greater distance form Baghdad (notably in Tur Abdin).

For a fleeing century, Erbil became capital of a state, notably of Hadhyab (in Ancient Greek: Adiabene; in Latin: Adiabenicus) which proclaimed a form of Judaism as state religion. This apparently ´odd´ event highlights once more the role played by the Aramaean merchants throughout the Middle East and Asia; Aramaeans, originating from the Mesopotamian South and transplanted in Samaria by Sargon of Assyria (ca. 719 – 715 BCE), practiced there Judaism at the times of Jesus, as we know through a multitude of sources.

In Islamic times, Erbil became known as Mudhaffariyah, and retained its significance as a regional commercial center. Different tribes originating from the Zagros mountains, an area called Djebal (lit. ´mountains´) in Islamic times, have progressively re-settled in the NE edge of Mesopotamia and more specifically Erbil. In one of their languages, they called the place ´Hawler´, a name of dark etymology that has mistakenly been linked with the word ´sun´ in Sorani language.

In the same period, Turkmen and Azeri populations moving through the provinces of the Islamic Caliphate, and pressurized by the Mongol invasions, reached and settled among the indigenous Aramaean Christians. With the decrease of the numbers of the Christians, over the centuries, the Turkmen became the most populous ethno-linguistic – religious group in Erbil.

This unpleasant reality has greatly disturbed the rapacious colonial powers as it did not fit the evil Anglo-French plans that provided for the demolition of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of an explosive pseudo-state named ´Kurdistan´ which is a historically inexistent term for as many regions as the evil Freemasonic colonial conspiracy wants to include in the pseudo-state which would be geared to trigger many conflicts and wars in the Middle East.

Through different types of involvement either at the times of the colonial mandate or during the postcolonial phases of the Iraqi fake independence, the Anglo-French colonial evilness managed to alter the basically Turkmen - Aramaean ethno-religious identity of Erbil. In 1920, Hawleris did not represent more than 30% of the local population; there was still a great Aramaean part (although diminished because of the persecutions during the last Ottoman decades), and the majority was still Turkmen. There were also Arabic speaking Sunnis, Yazidis and Shabban in small numbers.

Today, there are very few Aramaeans in Erbil because, according to the Freemasonic UK / USA plans, Christianity in Iraq has been mercilessly persecuted; the Turkmen have been reduced to just one third, and the totalitarian practices of the Barzani and Talabani gangsters keep them totally out of the regional structures of racist administration.

This situation must end, and Turkey should intervene, eliminate the thuggish Barzani pseudo-administration, and call for a US / UK-subsidized return of the Turkmen and the Aramaean Christians. To highlight the situation, I republish an insightful from the SOITM website.

The Turkmen of Erbil: Captives in Their City

http://www.turkmen.nl/1A_soitm/Rep.28-J0808.htm

Date: October 08, 2008

No: Rep. 28-J0808

William R. Hay, an English political officer, ruled the Erbil region from 1918 to 1920. He commented on the population of the city as follows:1

"The only two Turkish speaking populations which concern us closely are Erbil and Altun Kopri". "One mahalla or quarter of the town (Erbil) is purely Kurdish, and in the rest the lower classes resemble the Kurds in appearance and dress. All can speak Kurdish fluently, but the language of their homes is Turkish. In the upper town which contains 6000 inhabitants, the purest Turkish element is found". "Starting from with the Nebi Yunus on the bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul, and running down through Erbil, Altun Kopri, Kerkuk, Kifri and Kizil Rabat to Mendeli we find a line of towns with Turkmen speaking inhabitants".

The Kurdish arrival to the region is portrayed by Hay on several occasions:2, 3

"Dizai tribe descended from the hills about 3 centuries ago, and occupied a few villages round Qush Tappah. In the middle half of the 19th century they started to expand, and rapidly covered the whole country up to Tigris. In the late 1920s, they constitute one third of the Erbil district population". "It is reported that less than a century ago, trees and shrubs were plentiful on the slopes of Qara Choq Dagh; when the Kurds came, however, they were quickly taken for fire woods and no trace of them now remains".

Today Erbil is a heavily populated city and has been declared capital of the Kurdish region. No less than one third of the city´s population is Turkmen. Under the aggressive hegemonic policy of Kurdish tribal parties, the Turkmen of Erbil are marginalized, intimidated and exposed to suppression and assimilation.

Marginalization

The Turkmen parties got only 2000 votes in the Iraqi general election in Erbil. Seats in the city council are shared between members of two Kurdish parties; the KHP & KUP. Policy dictates that appointment of governmental offices and positions are to be made to members of Kurdish political parties only, thus depriving the Turkmen who are not members of Kurdish parties from governmental posts. The estimated number of employees in Kurdish region is about a million.4

Turkmen are being discriminated against and are seldom appointed to hold governmental offices or in the university in Erbil. Those who want to be appointed must show allegiance to the Kurdish parties and support their party´s ideology.

Assimilation

In April 2005, Kurdish security agents broke in to Turkmen institutions and took over 24 buildings: Nine primary and four secondary schools, the buildings for education, health, information, Turkmen Unions and syndicates, Turkmen House, Shifa dispensary, the Turkmen Radio and Television, Turkmeneli print house, the building of headquarters of the Iraqi Turkmen Front in Erbil, the building of Iraqi Turkmen National Party and the building of the Turkmeneli party.

The educational quality in the Turkmen schools was deliberately worsened which lead to a decrease in the number of students; the student registration have been stopped in 2008. The name of the Turkmeneli Television and Radio were changed and are now used as propaganda instruments by those Turkmen that work for the Kurdish parties and whom are paid by the Kurdish authorities. The Turkmeneli newspaper has not been published in Erbil and the Turkmeneli print house has been out of use. The Turkmen department of the Institution for Teachers was closed. Turkmen publications are not allowed to be sold in shops and put in the libraries. Cafés and public houses can not operate Turkmen TV and radio and can not keep the Turkmen publications, such as newspapers in their premises.

Suppression and Intimidation

The suppressive policy of the Kurdish administration hinders the appearance of Turkmen civil society activists and stall establishment of Turkmen civil society and political organizations. The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) is the only Turkmen organization which could resist the suppressive policy of the Kurdish authorities, but its functioning is severely restricted. The ITF is not allowed to realize political, social and cultural activities only inside the small buildings of the organization. Governmental buildings cannot be rented. Those who present logistic support to Turkmen organizations will be intimidated. During election campaigns Turkmen were allowed hang their posters and flags only on their own buildings.

The daily critics to the Turkmen organizations, by the newspapers of which the majority are controlled by the Kurdish political parties puts continuous psychological stress on the Turkmen of Erbil and particularly, on the small numbers of the politicians and activists who could resist the suppression.

Mr. Nadhim Abd al-Karim al-Saig was the chief of the news division of the Turkmeneli Radio and television which was taken over by Barzani´s administration. Resisting the intimidations and threats of the Kurdish authorities, he is active in different fields: media, politics and civil society. He was arrested by Kurdish Peshmerge militia on 30 Augustus 2008 in the center of Erbil city, when he photographed the entrance of the Erbil citadel, which is located in the center of the city and officially considered a historical landmark. When they found a number of Turkmen newspapers with him, he was taken to a center of Peshmerge militia. There he was exposed to a harsh interrogation. He was accused of spying and taken to the inspection department of the Peshmerge headquarters. The authority which received him asked those who brought him if any one knew of his arrest. They answered that his son was with him. It is worth noting that there are thousands of missing persons in the vast regions which controlled by KDP and KUP. The investigation continued for 2 hours and the investigators were a colonel and other with higher rank. He was cursed at, insulted, harshly beaten and accused of different charges. He was put in a prison, where about 40 other prisoners were being detained and he was threatened to be questioned even more harshly. In contrary, the second interrogation was much calmer and he was asked to abandon writing against the Kurdish administration. Later on, he was released and asked not to talk to any one and write about his arrest.

This is one of the many suppressive methods, which the Turkmen of Erbil are exposed to since the institution of the Save Haven in 1991, to intimidate the Turkmen of Erbil. These have decreased severely the engagement of the Turkmen of Erbil in the cultural, social and political activities. The small number of the Turkmen activists who resists the intimidation of the Kurdish authorities lives in fear of arrest, exposure to persecution, disappearance and assassination.

Reference:

1. William R. Hay, "Two Years in Kurdistan 1918 – 1920", (William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles 1921), P. 81 – 83

2. Ibid., P. 77

3. bid., P. 19

4. Judit Neurink, "another copy of Saddam Regime", July 2007,

http://archief.trouw.nl/artikel?REC=TR_ART_00225426

Note

Picture: Erbil, the castle. From: http://www.karalahana.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2447:Erbil%20Kalesi%20restore%20edilip%20turizme%20acilacak&catid=34:Gezi&Itemid=58