Latest news with #FeyliKurds
Shafaq News
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Shafaq News
Hora festival in Ilam revives ancient Feyli Kurdish musical heritage
Shafaq News/ On Friday, the Iranian city of Chavar in Ilam province hosted the 'Hora' festival, celebrating one of the oldest traditional musical forms of the Feyli Kurds. Chavar District Governor Farajollah Bavand described the Hora festival as a key contributor to social cohesion in Ilam, adding that 'Hora is a mythical sound that has inspired numerous musical styles and art forms.' Bavand also highlighted Hora's place among the Zagros inhabitants, stressing the importance of protecting and expanding its presence.
Shafaq News
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Feyli Kurdish Front demands recognition, rights on 8th anniversary
Shafaq News/ On Saturday, the Feyli Kurdish Front marked its eighth anniversary with a ceremony in Baghdad, renewing its call for justice, legal recognition, and political inclusion. The event, held at the party's headquarters, brought together political leaders, civil society groups, and activists. Speakers highlighted the Feyli Kurds' long-standing grievances, including forced displacement, confiscated property, and systemic exclusion—urging enforcement of constitutional rulings in their favor. Speaking to Shafaq News, Maher Rashid al-Feyli, Secretary-General of the Front, reaffirmed the group's sole mandate to represent the community's interests, encouraging unity among Feyli Kurds and stressing that achieving formal political and legal status remains the movement's top goal. While open to cooperation with other Feyli organizations, he dismissed broader coalitions, accusing dominant parties of 'stalling efforts' to restore the community's rights. Deputy Secretary-General Hamid Rashid described the anniversary as a 'strategic moment' ahead of national elections, revealing that the Front is actively evaluating alliance offers. 'We're a political home for every Feyli Kurd. Institutional recognition remains our driving mission.' Shamil al-Feyli, Deputy Secretary-General of the al-Walaa Movement, called for unity among Feyli groups, framing the gathering as 'a reaffirmation of a shared struggle for dignity.' Meanwhile, Sabah Nour al-Din, head of the Front's Women's Committee, urged national parties to support the Feyli cause. 'Our suffering demands accountability,' she remarked to our agency, adding, 'Empowering the Feyli community must become a national responsibility.'
Shafaq News
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Stateless in their homeland: The unending exile of Iraq's Feyli Kurds
Shafaq News/ In the quiet alleys of eastern Baghdad, Amira Abdul-Amir Ali moves through her days under the weight of silence. Her footsteps echo with decades of exclusion—an exile not from geography, but from legal existence. Born in 1960 and raised in Iraq, she remains, at 64, a citizen of nowhere. No official record affirms her Iraqi identity. Her life is suspended in a bureaucratic void—without recognition, rights, or recourse. Amira's story mirrors that of tens of thousands of Feyli Kurds, a Shiite Kurdish minority deeply woven into Iraq's social and economic fabric. For generations, they ran businesses, held public posts, and called Iraq home. But shifting political tides erased that belonging. Displacement by Decree The persecution of the Feyli Kurds was deliberate and protracted. In the early 1970s, the Baath regime under President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr initiated mass deportations, accusing Feylis of 'Iranian allegiance.' Under Saddam Hussein, the campaign intensified, peaking in 1980 with one of Iraq's most egregious state-led displacements. Citizenship papers vanished overnight. Families were rounded up and forced into Iran. Homes, shops, and savings were confiscated. Over 500,000 Feyli Kurds were expelled, according to estimates. Thousands of young men disappeared, likely executed or buried in unmarked graves. Baghdad's Feyli professionals and merchants were among the hardest hit. The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights reports that more than 1.3 million people went missing nationwide between 1980 and 1990. Feyli Kurds bore a disproportionate share of that toll. Recognition Without Relief In 2010, Iraq's High Criminal Court classified the deportations and disappearances as genocide. A year later, Parliament echoed that recognition. Yet these acknowledgments, while historic, brought little in practice. Pledges to restore citizenship, return property, and compensate victims remain largely unfulfilled. Many survivors returned to Iraq after the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein—hopeful, but soon entangled in a labyrinth of paperwork. Reinstating citizenship required documents lost during exile or raids, and the state offered scant support in recovering them. A Name Without a Nation Amira's life exemplifies this bureaucratic limbo. Deported with her family in 1980, she spent decades in Iran. There, she married an Iraqi prisoner of war in a religious ceremony—valid by custom, but unregistered by Iraqi authorities. After returning to Iraq post-2003, her husband failed to submit her nationality paperwork. When he died, Amira was left alone, legally invisible. She holds no national ID, cannot access public healthcare or education, and is excluded from Iraq's food ration system. 'All I ask is to be treated like everyone else,' she told Shafaq News. 'To restore just a piece of my lost dignity.' Her entire legal identity today fits in a worn file folder—an unregistered marriage contract, a few aging residency papers—none sufficient to restore her rights. Bureaucracy and Gender Iraqi law allows reinstatement of Feyli citizenship in principle, but implementation is sluggish and inconsistent. For women, the hurdles are even greater. Iraq's civil registry system still leans heavily on male guardianship. Without a husband or male relative to file her case, Amira has effectively vanished from official records. Her experience reveals how gender compounds legal exclusion. Years in exile, outdated rules, and systemic corruption create a maze most cannot navigate. Her case is just one of hundreds stuck in this legal paralysis. Human Rights Watch has noted that Iraq's transitional justice efforts are undermined by fragmented politics and selective enforcement. Legal structures exist, but urgency and willpower are lacking. Genocide as Daily Reality The 2010 genocide ruling was a milestone—but more than a decade later, material justice remains absent. Property has not been restored. Compensation has not reached most victims. And citizenship remains elusive for many. Some Feyli Kurds have reintegrated. But others—like Amira—live in legal shadows. For them, 'genocide' is not merely a past crime—it is a daily condition. 'I live as though I have no right to anything… no home, no document, no voice,' Amira said. 'Orphaned by both parents—I just want to be treated as an Iraqi. That's all.' A Humanitarian Path Forward Amira continues to appeal to Iraqi leaders—especially Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and Interior Minister Abdul-Amir al-Shammari—seeking a humanitarian solution. Iraqi law does include provisions for exceptional cases, particularly involving mixed marriages and displaced persons, but they are rarely and inconsistently applied. Human rights advocates stress the need for urgent administrative reform: simplify application procedures, recognize informal marriages in exile, and allow women to reclaim citizenship without male intermediaries. The United Nations defines legal identity as a foundational right—one that enables access to education, healthcare, political participation, and economic life. Without it, individuals are effectively erased from public existence.
Shafaq News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Shafaq News
Seeking justice: Baghdad Symposium addresses Feyli rights
Shafaq News/ On Wednesday, Iraqi officials, legal experts, and human rights advocates gathered in Baghdad for a symposium focused on restoring the rights of Feyli Kurds. The event was organized by the Ministry of Culture's Feyli Cultural Center in cooperation with the Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights. Discussions centered on legal accountability, citizenship restoration, property claims, and the unresolved issue of mass graves containing the remains of thousands of missing Feyli Kurds. Quais Hussein Ghayeb, director of the Commission's Minorities and Social Peace Division, said the Commission is prioritizing three key demands: reinstating citizenship for those stripped of it, compensating for seized assets, and locating and identifying mass grave sites. 'These issues are being followed up with relevant state institutions,' Ghayeb stated, noting ongoing complaints from Feyli citizens facing bureaucratic delays in recovering their nationality. He added that Baghdad's provincial council is actively supporting the citizenship file, and that the Council of Ministers has issued related recommendations. Ghayeb also highlighted legal and logistical challenges in investigating mass graves, citing current laws that restrict excavation to specific government entities. 'There is a legislative effort underway to resolve the contradiction between legal provisions and investigative needs." Feyli researcher Fereydoun Karim called the mass grave issue deeply complicated, alleging that some parties have obstructed efforts to uncover the fate of the disappeared. "Despite raising the matter with international actors, including the United Nations, there has been little tangible progress." Meanwhile, Lamia Adnan al-Mandlawi, institutional development official at Iraq's Scientific Complex, emphasized the importance of sustained follow-up. 'The symposium brought legal clarity to the Feyli Kurds' demands and reinforced the need for implementation on citizenship, property rights, and mass grave investigations,' she told Shafaq News.
Shafaq News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Shafaq News
KRG to present report on forcibly disappeared victims of Saddam at Baghdad conference
Shafaq News/ Iraq will hold a regional conference in Baghdad on May 27 to address the issue of missing persons, under the sponsorship of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, with participation from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). KRG Coordinator for International Advocacy Dindar Zebari confirmed that the event will bring together deputy foreign ministers from neighboring countries, regional experts, and representatives of accredited foreign missions, adding that the conference aims to boost regional cooperation, enhance cross-border coordination, and highlight the joint role of Iraq's Federal and Regional governments in partnership with the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). While the KRG would be presenting a formal report that details its long-standing efforts to locate thousands of forcibly disappeared individuals, particularly victims of Saddam Hussein's regime, Zebari noted that the presentation will focus on 'major historical atrocities,' including the disappearance of Feyli Kurds in the 1980s, the Anfal campaign in Garmian and Bahdinan, and the case of 8,000 missing Barzanis. He stressed that these crimes represent some of the darkest moments in Kurdish history and warned that enforced disappearances continued beyond the Baath era, citing thousands abducted by ISIS. 'The international community and the United Nations must take a closer look at these atrocities, which we will raise during the meeting.'
