UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

Turkmen, Arabs, Christians and Shabak have repeatedly expressed their fear for ongoing
Kurdification of the mixed areas and have called for the recognition of their rights. 446
Assyrian Christian parties have since 2004 lobbied for a new Governorate, “Assyria”, in the
Ninewa Plains in line with Article 121 of the Constitution, which guarantees
administrative, political, cultural and educational rights for ethnic minorities. 447 Pascale
Warda, Director of the Iraqi Women’s Centre for Development in Baghdad and former
Minister of Displacement and Migration, has become the public face for this campaign. She
and others believe that a self-administered Governorate would be the only way to stop the
violence and flow of Christian refugees out of Iraq. Other minorities such as Yazidis and
Shabaks would also be welcome according to the supporters of this idea, who say that the
Governorate would be “geographically based and not ethnically based”. 448 Whether or not
“Assyria” should be part of an enlarged Kurdistan Region or remain under control of the
central Government is disputed. 449
c) Current Situation
Members of ethnic minorities run the risk of arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention
by Kurdish militias. The existence of extra-judicial detentions were first exposed by the
Washington Post in June 2005, which had gathered statements by American and Iraqi
officials, government documents and families of victims. It reported a “concerted and
widespread initiative” by the Kurdish parties “to exercise authority in Kirkuk in an
increasingly provocative manner”. 450 The Washington Post article also cited a source which
pointed to a practice by the Kurdish-dominated security forces and the Asayish, the Kurdish
446 For example, on 15 August 2005, a peaceful demonstration by Shabak villagers in Bartilla turned violent
after KDP gunmen shot at the crowd, injuring several. Shabak demonstrators called for their community’s
recognition in the new Constitution holding signs which read “(W)e are the Shabak, NOT Kurds and NOT
Arabs”; see AINA, Kurdish Gunmen Open Fire on Demonstrators in North Iraq, 16 August 2005,
http://www.aina.org/news/20050816114539.htm; AP, Kurdish sub-group demand separate recognition in
new Iraq, 15 August 2005, http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=7512. See also: Al-Qaddo, see above
footnote 209. Reportedly, 12 Shabak who participated in a radio programme called “Dostorona
Mustaqbbalana” were arrested, brought to Erbil for interrogation and detained for 12 hours; see Dr. Hunain
Al-Qaddo, Conflicts between Kurds and the Shabak, Christians of Iraq, 26 August 2005,
http://www.christiansofiraq.com/Shabak8265.html.
447 See, for example, Assyrian Universal Alliance, Assyrian UN Delegation Calls Autonomous Region for
Iraq’s Assyrians, 1 November 2006, http://www.christiansofiraq.com/autonomousregionNov,16.html.
448 Heather Maher, Iraq: Christian Minority Seeks Haven From Violence, RFE/RL, 19 October 2006,
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/10/40228640-c96c-4881-bb37-375bd1346efc.html; Fred Aprim, The
Future of the Assyrians of Iraq: A Safe Haven vs. Self-Administrative Region, Zinda Magazine, 25 March
2006, http://www.christiansofiraq.com/administrationMar266.html.
449 The Guardian, “In 20 years, there will be no more Christians in Iraq”, 6 October 2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1888848,00.html. For example, Kurdistan Nwe, a daily newspaper
issued by the PUK in Sulaymaniyah reported on 17 January 2006: “(I)n front of the House of Parliament in
Erbil, the Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament received a peaceful demonstration of Shabak Kurds from the
areas around Mosul who demanded restoring their areas to Kurdistan Region.” (unofficial translation from
Arabic by UNHCR).
450 Steve Fainaru and Anthony Shadid, Kurdish Officials Sanction Abductions in Kirkuk, The Washington
Post, 15 June 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/14/AR2005061401
828.html.
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