Photographer Tells of Iraqi Kurds "In Agony"

I was shocked and deeply in sorrow when first I heard about Halabja in 1988. This was the high point of the suffering that Kurds were going through for almost a century. Will the world come to their aid? Unfortunately, no. Western and regional countries have always used the Kurds for some political or economic interest. The world has left them, like the Afghans, in agony for so long.

Were the Kurds you met preoccupied with possible U.S. or international action against Saddam Hussein? What hopes or fears do the Kurds have about the possibility of war?

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Well, [the Kurds] want to get out of Saddam's hands for sure. But they have not forgotten the U.S. betrayal of their fate in 1990 during the Gulf War. U.S. officials encouraged the Kurds to rebel and get rid of Saddam. They gave guaranties to the Kurds. When the Kurds started a rebellion, the U.S. had done another deal… The Kurds were left alone, and the Iraqi army attacked and crushed them. There was a massive and tragic exodus to the north involving hundreds of thousands of Kurds during a cold winter. Thousands of children and elderly people died on the road. That still is in their mind. The Iraqi army also massacred and arrested people—180,000 males between 15 and 60 simply disappeared… All these stories are alive in the mind of the people.

The Kurds have suffered at the hands of many nations, but there has been a lot of progress in Kurdistan since your last visit in 1980. Can you describe some of the changes?

I was so surprised to see these changes during my last trip in Iraq. Kurdish people there have done a great job of organization. I thought I could help them to create a free media, to rebuild a cultural identity, like I did with AINA [a non-profit organization] in Afghanistan. It seems to me that Kurdish people there are getting more and more "mature" and ready for a new state. Hopefully very soon, Kurdistan will be one of the nations of the world. They are ready for this.

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