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Iraq-Barzani Forces Expelled from Strategic Sectors 42 Villages Liberated

Zele, Iraqi Kurdistan (10 October 1996 ) -- Yesterday, in a major preemptive attack, PUK forces expelled Iraqi backed Barzani militia from the strategic sectors of Marga and Mount Asos, east of Qala-Diza. Forty-two villages and hamlets were liberated from Iraq-Barzani forces which sustained heavy losses and were driven westward to the shores of lake Dookan and the town of Ranya. Substantial amounts of weapons and ammunition were captured by the PUK during this operation.

Significant Iraq-Barzani forces were being deployed in the area of Marga as a prelude to an attack on PUK leadership bases at Zele. Earlier Iraq-Barzani offensives in this sector were repulsed by the PUK.

On 8 October, a major offensive by Iraq-Barzani forces was repulsed in the area of Shanekhse, northeast of Sulaimanya. The attack, supported by artillery and Katusha launchers operated by Iraqi military personnel, was supervised by Massoud Barzani who visited Sulaimanya for this purpose.

Further Iraqi Units Moved into Iraqi Kurdistan

Extrajudicial Killings and Arbitrary Detention of Dissidents

Zele, Iraqi Kurdistan (8 October 1996) -- Saddam Hussein continues to consolidate and advance his control over Iraqi Kurdistan:

In recent days, the Iraqi government has introduced further armor, artillery and auxiliary units and security services into Iraqi Kurdistan to consolidate its grip over the region. The armor and artillery units are manned by Iraqi government personnel mostly dressed in Kurdish costumes working in coordination with Barzani's militia. Armored vehicles and tanks have been observed taking position at strategic locations of the Dookan and Darbandi-Khan Dams and on the outskirts of Sulaimanya. Iraqi armor continues to be deployed at the junctions of Qusthtapa and Bestana, south of Irbil.

Iraqi intelligence and security services have enhanced their presence in the cities of Sulaimanya, Irbil and Dehouk. Various Iraqi security units have been established in the rural districts such as Qala-Diza, Ranya, Chwar-Qourna and Kifri and Kalar. Iraqi Ba'ath Organization offices are reported to have been reopened at Kifri and Kalar.

Commanders of Iraqi auxiliary units, such as Ali Lut Masi, Sheikh Aziz Kachal, Shareef Korawari and Fu'ad Hamawandi to name a few, have returned back to the region and are working, under direct command of Iraqi military and security agencies, to reestablish security networks throughout the region. The chief of Iraq's "Kurdish Legislative Council", sheik Ja'far Barzanji, visited Sulaimanya and met with KDP officials in the city.

Further, Barzani and Iraqi military commands are coordinating closely to escalate their military campaign to eliminate PUK and other opposition forces which have regrouped and continue operate in various locations throughout the region.

In Sulaimanya and Irbil, joint commissions have been established between Iraqi security agencies and PARASTIN, KDP's intelligence organization, to coordinate their activities aimed at uprooting political dissent against the regime and Barzani's militia.

The campaign of terror targeting suspected political dissidents is escalating. In Sulaimanya, more than 100 PUK Sympathizers have been arrested during the last week by KDP's PARASTIN. Their fate in not known.

Despite Barzani's "amnesty" offer, on 23 September, four PUK members were executed by Barzani's militia at the district of Tanjaro, southeast of Sulaimanya. The families of the victims were forced to watch the public execution by firing squad. The four victims are:

1. Amjad Khalid Mohammed

2. Sattar Kanimeli

3. Ahmed Haji Sulaimani

4. Faiq Rabar

TERROR CAMPAIGN ENGULFS KURDISTAN IRAQI-BARZANI FORCES CONTINUE WITH CAMPAIGN TO ELIMINATE POLITICAL DISSENT IN IRAQI KURDISTAN

In a brutal terror campaign to eliminate political dissent in Iraqi Kurdistan, Barzani's forces have rounded up hundreds, possibly thousands, of political opponents scores of whom have already been executed. Further, Iraqi security services have moved into the Kurdish cities and towns, off limit to them for the last five years, and are engaged in a campaign to eliminate remnants of the opposition.

Reports received from eyewitnesses in Sulaimaniya state that Iraqi security services have moved into the city. Units of the AL-AMN AL-KHAS, AL-AMN, Military Intelligence and MUKHABARAT have been deployed from Kirkuk to Sulaimaniya, where they have established a number of operational headquarters. Iraqi security services, assisted by Barzani militia, are searching for Kurds and non-Kurds, who have worked with international NGOs.

Barzani Militia have detained hundreds of suspected PUK associates in the city of Sulaimaniya, the major centre for Kurdish nationalism and culture in Iraq.Scores of PUK activists are reported to have been summarily executed by Barzani's forces.

Reports from Irbil confirm that General Fadhil Mohammed, Director of Military Intelligence for the Eastern Division, has moved to Irbil. Earlier, Brigadier General Walid Naif Al-Khalis, Director of Military Intelligence for the Northern Division, has moved his operational HQ to the city of Dohouk inside the "safe-heaven".

Irbil is the scene of a massive campaign of retribution against suspected PUK and opposition associates. Execution of PUK members and tribal opponents of the Barzani clan continues unabated.

Journalists and writers have been targeted specifically by the Barzani campaign. Scores of Kurdish intellectuals have been arrested and harassed to force them to declare support for Barzani's collusion with Saddam Hussein. TV and radio stations, belonging to the PUK and other opposition groups, have been taken over and looted by Barzani-Iraqi forces.

In scenes reminiscent of the rape of Kuwait, Iraqi forces in Irbil looted all Kurdistan Regional Government offices, hospitals, printing plants, university and laboratory equipment, and disassembled the manufacturing plants in the city and took them to Mosul and Baghdad.

Scores of homes of PUK members and their relatives, and other political dissidents, have been looted and taken over by Barzani militia in Sulaimaniya and Irbil.

We call on the international community to act swiftly to end this brutal campaign of vengeance by Barzani and Iraqi security services. The fate of hundreds of political detainees is in grave danger. It is imperative that the UN and international human rights organizations dispatch monitors to the region without delay.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Bureau of International Relations
12 September 1996
STATEMENT

PUK CONTINUES WITH ITS RESISTANCE AGAINST SADDAM AND HIS PROXIES

Following the attack on Irbil by Saddam's Republican Guard armored forces and the advance on Koysanjak that soon followed, the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan decided on a strategic redeployment of its forces to spare the long suffering Kurdish people another round of massive armored and artillery attacks by the regime.

Barzani's forces were well-armed by their Iraqi allies and Iraqi tanks were not far behind them. In the absence of clear signals from the U.S.-led coalition to fulfill their promises to protect the Kurdish people and deter further aggression, a conventional military defense of the population centers would have been untenable and was recognized as such by the PUK leadership.

Those knowledgeable about Kurdish affairs are familiar with the PUK's record in resisting Saddam and his mercenaries. The decision to redploy was a very difficult one--but it was made with regard for the safety of the civilian population and to avoid giving the aggressors a pretext with which to exact vengeance upon them.

The PUK has instructed its forces to redeploy to various locations inside Iraqi Kurdistan, regroup, and reorganize. We will adopt a new strategy to maintain the struggle to reverse the terrible situation brought about by Barzani's treacherous collusion with the tormentor of the Kurdish people, Saddam Hussein. The PUK will continue its fight for Kurdish rights and a democratic Iraq and will work actively with the Iraqi National Congress and other forces of the Iraqi opposition against the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

While Saddam Hussein and Massoud Barzani bear full responsibility for the latest tragedy to befall the Kurdish people, the world community, and particularly the U.S.-led coalition, cannot escape blame for remaining essentially indifferent to Saddam's onslaught.

For the past five years, in numerous meetings with the Iraqi opposition, senior US and coalition officials reaffirmed their security assurances for the Kurdish people. Further, scores of US and coalition officials visited Iraqi Kurdistan during the last five years. Throughout this period assurances for protection were reaffirmed at many levels, not only to the Kurdish political leadership but they were also put to the Kurdish people at large. But when the moment finally came when Saddam saw fit to change all that, his aggression went unchallenged.

While Saddam Hussein and his proxies may think they have quelled the Kurdish moment and squashed its people, the PUK is adamant that the struggle will continue in pursuit of the Kurdish national interest, above all freeing our people from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and his puppet in Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani.

Barzani's treachery has undeniably opened the way for Saddam -- with collusion from regional powers hostile to Kurdish aspirations, and, unfortunately, the indifference of the international community--to regain control over Iraqi Kurdistan; destroy the foundations of the Kurdish experiment in self-government and the hope for a democratic Iraq and reestablish a reign of terror in the region.

Yet the struggle continues and this is a new day in the long march of the Kurdish people toward freedom and liberty. The PUK, having resurrected the Kurdish movement from the ashes of its collapse in 1975, is determined to deal with the new challenges with vigor, persistence, and the patience of a people, who in their long suffering, have acquired the capability for great endurance.

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Press Release
12 September 1996

SADDAM-BARZANI FORCES ATTACK KURDISH POSITIONS

Attempting to secure control over strategic border crossings and locations where PUK forces are regrouping, Iraqi and Barzani forces continue to attack.

This morning, Barzani militia, aided by Iraqi artillery, attempted to secure Kurdish positions around Mawat, east of Sulaimanya. PUK forces decisively repulsed the attack. Reports from the area indicate that as many as 10 KDP militiamen were killed in the failed attack.

Iraqi backed Barzani militias have attacked PUK positions near Choman. The attack was repulsed. Fighting continues in the area.

PUK forces are regrouping in a number of locations inside Iraqi Kurdistan, and the PUK command is planning for continued resistance against Saddam-Barzani forces. The PUK decided on a strategic redployement of its forces to spare the population centers, rehabilitated in the last five years with international help, from further destruction by Iraqi artillery and tanks.

Yesterday, Iraqi and Barzani forces have summarily executed more than 20 suspected PUK associates in the area of Bashmagh, near the Iranian border. The executions are part of KDP-Iraq campaign to intimidate refugees to return back to Iraq.

Barzani forces continue to loot homes of suspected PUK associates. Hundreds of homes in Irbil, Sulaimanya, Kosyanjak, Ranya and Qala-Diza have been taken over by Barzani militia and their owners evicted.

In scenes reminiscent of the rape of Kuwait, Iraqi security forces disassembled print plants in Irbil and took them way to Mosul and Baghdad. Computers and laboratory equipment have also been looted from the University of Irbil by Iraqi forces.

Hundreds of Kurdish political activists have been rounded up by Barzani and Iraqi security forces. Their fate is unknown. We call on the international community to act decisively to assure the safety of people at risk of retribution from Saddam and his proxies.

Bureau of Foreign Relations
PRESS RLEASE September 11,1996
UPDATE

After the siege of Koysinjak and the strategic mountain of Haybat Sultan by the allied forces of Saddam and of Barzani, followed by a very large concentration of their troops in Bani Makan near Chemchemal and also the preparation of helicopters and fighter planes observed at the Kirkuk air base, the PUK was convinced of the imminence of an attack against the city of Sulaimaniya.

After having carefully examined the military situation and taken note of the weakness of a reaction from the international community against Saddam's new crime, the Political Bureau of the PUK reached the bitter conclusion that the Kurdish people has once again been sacrificed to the convergent economic, political and strategic interests of the regional countries and the West, and this in spite of the promises of protection and the creation of a "safe-haven". The PUK also noted the cynicism with which were buried "the right of intervention" and "the new world order" as well as all humanitarian values which had guided, so it had been said, the actions of the international community against tyrants after the Gulf war.

After the acknowledgment of the hypocrisy of the West, which wished, however, to be the guardian of human conscience, the situation scarcely became favourable to the Kurdish people and to its combatants, defenders of its freedom in the face of terrible arms of destruction pointed at the city of Sulaimaniya, city of art and of culture, politico-cultural capital and a symbol of a free Kurdistan but left outside the no-fly zone, south of the 36th parallel, that is to say, to be bombed "in all international legality" by the cruelest regime of our era.

It therefore seemed important that the PUK give no pretext to Saddam or to his miserable ally Barzani who displays, once again, the narrowness of his ideas and his incapacity to take care of the destiny of a people. Through an excess of pride or the desire for revenge, the PUK, in order to face these attacks, could have asked for help or solicited unnatural alliances, but at what price to the Kurdish people? However, the PUK, as a responsible political organization, asking for the chance to govern the affairs of a people enamoured of freedom, and conscious of the destruction and tragedies which the regime and the KDP wanted to provoke, decided not to choose armed confrontation in order to save the civilian population. Because its our people, our richness, our land.

After having informed the population of Sulaimaniya of this decision, the PUK asked them not to leave the city and not to resist the occupying forces with arms, in order to avoid giving these forces any pretext for executing their disastrous plans as they had in Arbil.

We trust in the capacity of our people to liberate themselves from the occupation at the opportune time. Sooner or later, victory will be theirs. Saddam and Barzani will be called upon one day to pay for their crimes: the first for his atrocities and the second for having betrayed a hope, and perhaps the only one in Kurdish history, rich in promises for our future.

Bureau of Foreign Relations of the PUK

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan

Press Release
8 September 1996

IRAQ IS DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN ATTACK ON KURDISH TOWN

Eyewitnesses fleeing the carnage at KOYSANJAK confirm that as many as 50 Iraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers participated in the attack on the town and are currently deployed in and around the town.

Thousands of people from KOYSANJAK, a major political centre for Kurdish nationalism, have fled the town in fear of retribution by Iraqi forces and security agents who are reported to have moved into the town in large numbers.

The people of SULAIMANIA, concerned by the lack of a serious US response to the Iraqi aggression, are planning to flee should Iraq attack. A humanitarian catastrophe is in the making.

It is a cause for serious concern that US officials are portraying this aggression by Saddam"s forces as a Kurdish civil war. This is Saddam's aggression against the people of Iraqi Kurdistan and no fig-leave can hide this fact. Barzani's collaboration with Saddam should not be a cause to condemn an entire people to the tyranny of Saddam.

We call on the US to act decisively to stop the Iraqi onslaught and live up to the commitments made to the Kurdish people during the last five years and reaffirmed emphatically by the US only days prior to the Iraqi aggression. The US and its coalition partners must not leave the people of Kurdistan to the vengeance of Saddam Hussein.