Iraqi Kurds always emerged as the symbol of hope: Brett McGurk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraqi Kurds have always been a symbol of hope, Brett McGurk, the United States Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, told a virtual conference on Wednesday, recounting the resilience of Kurds in the face of persecution by the Iraqi regime in the early nineties.

“On behalf of President [Joe] Biden - who had such a long and personal history with Iraq and Kurdish people - I want to express my strong support for the enduring relationship with the Kurdistan Regional Government, and my gratitude for the Kurdish and American heroes who made Operation Provide Comfort possible,” McGurk said at the virtual conference hosted by the KRG’s representation in the US.

The event was entitled ‘The Turning Point: Operation Provide Comfort’ in reference to the military operations launched in 1991 to protect Kurds fleeing Saddam Hussein’s brutal oppression after a Kurdish uprising against the Iraqi regime. Rudaw Media Network was the media sponsor of the event.

“The Iraqi Kurdish people endured untold atrocities and deprivation, yet always emerged as the symbol of hope. Your heroism and perseverance through adversity is something I always deeply admire,” added McGurk who worked with Kurds in Iraq and Syria in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014 and afterwards as the US Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition.

April 2021 is the thirtieth anniversary of an internationally-enforced no-fly zone put in place in 1991.

Fearing another Anfal, millions of Kurds had fled into the mountains and were subsequently trapped, cold and starving. Following United Nations Security Council Resolution 688, the US, UK, and other allies established the no-fly zone in northern Iraq to protect Kurdish areas from the air force of Saddam Hussein and deliver humanitarian aid.

McGurk said that Kurds, after 30 years, are “strategic partners” of the US.

“We are honored to be partners [with Kurdistan] not just in security cooperation but also building a prosperous, democratic, and bright future for the Kurdistan Region as a whole.”

“Humanitarian nightmare”

James A. Baker, who was the US Secretary of State from 1989 to 1992, also attended the virtual conference. He described the displacement of some two million Kurds to the Turkish borders in 1991 as a “humanitarian nightmare,” saying at the time he urged President George H.W. Bush to act as soon as possible.

He said that he was on a flight to Israel in 1991 but had to make an unexpected landing in Turkey’s Diyarbakir and subsequently visited the border areas where Kurds had sought refuge in.

“Mostly what I remember is an incredible humanitarian nightmare. I remember all of these people. They did not have sufficient shelter, they had no food, they cut down all the trees for fires. It looked like an atomic bomb as the desolation was incredible. There was no warmth from the cold nights, the tents were rather flimsy. So, I picked up the phone and I called President Bush - who was my close friend for 40 years,” he recounted.

“I said ‘You got a huge humanitarian nightmare here and we have got to do something.’ And he quickly agreed. I urged him to call the UN Secretary General to appoint a relief coordinator from the UN.”

After calling several US officials, the Secretary was able to make his country act against Saddam’s atrocities and implement a no-fly zone in what is now the Kurdistan Region.

Masoud Barzani, who was one of the leaders of Kurdish movement at the time, at the conference recalled Baker’s concern about the exodus of Iraqi Kurds and their dire humanitarian situation.

“We went to Washington as an [Iraqi] opposition delegation in 1992 and were received at the Department of State. He [Baker] talked about his feelings when he visited the refugees at the Turkish border and said that he would never forget the scenes he saw,” said Barzani who is currently the leader of Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Barzani added that Baker had told him he was urgently pushing Bush to act.

After the implementation of the no-fly zone resolution, “the people of Kurdistan were able to establish their own administration, have legitimate institutions, hold elections, and have parliament and government,” said Barzani. “Kurdistan became a safe haven for all those in need and the struggling in Iraq.”

Barzani also said that Iraqi Kurds have not achieved all their goals yet, calling for the continued support of Kurds by the Western countries.

Kurdish lobby

Hoshyar Zebari, who in the 1990s was among the few Kurdish politicians who spoke English and other foreign languages, told the virtual conference of his work lobbying Western countries to support the Kurdish struggle in Iraq through the media.

“We in Europe and the United States lobbied through public diplomacy and international media to try to focus because our access to governments at the time was limited. So, the only tool we had to speak to the world was through the international media which did a magnificent job.”

There are scores of videos and special reports by western media outlets about the sufferings of Kurds during the exodus.

“The establishment of an international coalition of forces - Britain, France, Italy, and the Netherlands - all sent forces in order to establish that zone in order to reassure people that there would be no Iraqi security repression of them and to encourage people from coming down from the mountains,” added Zebari who later served as Iraqi foreign minister, finance minister and deputy prime minister after the US invasion in 2003.

Speaking from Baghdad, Zebari said that despite Kurdish fighters in the nineties making tremendous sacrifices while resisting Iraqi aggression with limited resources, “without the help and intervention of the United States and its coalition it was a lost cause or hope for the Kurds.”

Bayan Sami Abdulrahman, KRG representative in the US and the moderator of the virtual conference, said in her introductory remarks that the no-fly zone and the military operation by the US were vital decisions which “shielded Kurdistan for the next decade and enabled us to establish a peaceful and stable region.”
“It is important that we recognize the sacrifices of our people at that time, the lives that were impacted, the loved ones who died on the journey and were buried along the way.”

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