Tens of thousands of Kurds from Tuz Khurmatu unsure their return

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdish people from diverse Tuz Khurmatu are not sure when they will be able to return because of destruction, safety, and a lack of compensation to rebuild.

“If the Turkmen Hashd forces in Khurmatu are not expelled and if the Iraqi and the Kurdistan Regional Government does not compensate the affected people, people will not return,” Hasan Barzam, the deputy head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Tuz Khurmatu, has told Rudaw. 

The population of the town is 180,000 people, of whom 70,000 are Kurds, according to Barzam. He believes hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

“We cannot give accurate figures because we cannot return to the town and media outlets are not permitted to cover this disaster and destruction," Barzam said. 

Based on displacement figures obtained from Tuz locals who have fled to Garmian, Chamchamal, and Sulaimani, Barzam estimates nearly 50,000 people have fled Khurmatu.

Barzam estimates around 20 people have either been killed or are missing.

"According to our preliminary figures, we have more than 12 martyrs and more than six are missing, held by the Hasaib Ahl Al-Haq," he said. "More than 300 to 400 houses were burn and blown up.”

Barzam doesn't understand why there is destruction and loss of life if there is a reported deal between Kurdish and Iraqi security forces.

"If an agreement has been made, what is all this killing and invasion? An agreement means negotiation. Forty percent of our land has been invaded. Disaster and tragedy struck Khurmatu. Can an agreement be made this way? If agreements are made like this, then we should leave Sulaimani, Erbil and Duhok too,” he said. 

The rights group Amnesty International  reported on October 24 the deaths of at least 11 civilians amid indiscriminate attacks, arson, and looting in predominantly Kurdish areas of the diverse town of Tuz Khurmatu when it was taken over by Iraqi and Iranian-backed forces. 

Iraq’s minister for displaced persons, Darbaz Mohammed, on October 21 described the situation in the multi-ethnic town of Tuz Khurmatu as “out of control” and unsafe for Kurdish residents to return to at this time.

Iraqi forces and Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi took control of Tuz Khurmatu, 65 kilometers south of Kirkuk, from the Peshmerga on October 16.

The Hashd al-Shaabi were previously reported to have pulled out their forces from Tuz.

Barzam believes the Hashd forces "from central Iraq" may have withdrawn, but local Shiite Turkmen "bands" remain.

“If the Turkmen Hashd forces in Khurmatu are not expelled and if the Iraqi and the Kurdistan Regional Government does not compensate the affected people, people will not return,” Barzam detailed.

Kurds are not strangers to displacement and killings by government forces—having suffered previous waves of what they term Anfal, or the Kurdish genocide.

“What has and is still happening in Khurmatu amounts to Anfal. But the 1988 Anfal was less destructive than this one, which is genocide, exterminating and wiping out the Kurds in this town,” Barzam told Rudaw.

Tuz Khurmatu is home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. Fighting in the city predates the Kurdistan Region's September 25 independence referendum, however, previous agreements between Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi security forces largely allowed locals to stay.

Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries and traditional Iraqi forces moved to impose federal control in disputed or Kurdistani areas claimed by Erbil and Baghdad on October 15. Some local Kurdish media is barred from entering some disputed areas and many foreign missions have discouraged their citizens from entering disputed areas for safety concerns.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) "condemned" the killing of a Kurdish journalist in Kirkuk on Sunday.

"The Mission calls on the authorities to do their utmost to ensure the safety of all citizens, including journalists and politicians, and media outlets," read a statement.

The United Nations Security Council has called on "all sides to refrain from the threat and use of force and to engage in constructive dialogue, facilitated by the United Nations upon request."