MP urges Iraq to protect Faili Kurds from threats in southern Baghdad

Faili Kurds in southern Iraq are facing different types of threats from the federal government and the local population.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Faili Kurds in southern Iraq are facing different types of threats from the federal government and the local population, said a Kurdish official on Monday.

Most of the Faili Kurds are Shia Muslim. They live in southern parts of Iraq, especially in Diyala, Baghdad, and Wasit with a small number of other provinces.

“The Faili Kurds are now exposed to various types of dangers, both at the governmental level and local level where they receive threats from some people,” a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament Amin Baker said.

According to Baker, “some government officials call on Kurds [in the southern part of Iraq] to drop their nationalities or leave the area.”

Recently, Saad Mutalibi, a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council, threatened the Kurds living in Baghdad and other provinces of Iraq.

He stated Kurds living in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq should be dismissed and have their Iraqi citizenships revoked if Kurdistan voted for secession in the upcoming referendum on Sep. 25, 2017.

His comments resulted in various reactions.

Mutalibi’s threats are similar to the ones made by former Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr in the 1970s and then Saddam Hussein in the 1980s who claimed Faili Kurds are originally from Iran and their Iraqi citizenship should be invalidated.

The Kurdish MP also mentioned Faili Kurds were exposed to death threats, displacement, and looting in Baghdad, Wasit, and Diyala.

He called on the Iraqi government to stop and condemn the risks, violations, and discriminations against the Kurdish constituent.

He stated the Kurds living in the rest of Iraq should not be held responsible for the result of the independence referendum in the Region.

“A significant and substantial number of our Kurdish people live outside the current borders of the Kurdistan Region,” Baker said.

“Therefore, the Federal Government [of Iraq], with its constitutional and moral duties, is required to protect all components regardless of their ethnic and religious background,” he added.

There is no official data on the number of Faili Kurds living in the southern parts of Iraq.

The Kurdistan Region is home to over 1.8 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled the threat of the Islamic State from different parts of Iraq.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany