Persecution of Feyli Kurds in Ba'athist Iraq

The persecution of Feyli Kurds in Ba'athist Iraq was the state-sponsored persecution of the Feyli Kurds in Ba'athist Iraq. The persecution started with the beginning of Ba'athist rule in 1963 and continued until the collapse of the Ba'athist government in 2003. In 2011, the Iraqi Parliament voted to recognize the persecution of Feyli Kurds by the Ba'athist government as a genocide.

Background

Feyli Kurds were often labelled as Iranian, with issues tracing as early as the Iraqi monarchy in the 1920s when they were first refused Iraqi nationality, as the government viewed them as mostly immigrants from Iran. The 1924 Iraqi Nationality Law only considered descendants of Ottoman subjects as "original" Iraqis with automatic nationality, and relegated the Feyli Kurds to the category of foreign descendants, specifically Iranian, and had to apply for citizenship and were treated as second-class citizens despite many having been in Iraq for hundreds of years. These distinctions later enabled harsher persecution after the Ba'athists came to power in 1963. When the Jews of Iraq fled to Israel in 1947, most of their businesses were taken over by their Feyli Kurdish employees. It had dramatically changed the status of Feyli Kurds in Iraq, although the economy was again dominated by a minority whose background sharply differed from the Sunni Arab ruling class, and by the early 1950s, the traditional resentment of Jews had shifted over to the Feyli Kurds.The Kurds: A Contemporary Overview, 2005, pp. 102, . Nevertheless, a Feyli Kurd was appointed to the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce in the 1960s,Minority Rights in the Middle East, Joshua Castellino, Kathleen A. Cavanaugh, 2013, pp. 206, . and in the 1970s, many Feyli Kurds had become leaders in the Kurdish national movement in Iraq and were crucial in the financing of the movement."Nationalisme kurde et ethnicités intra-kurdes," pp. 28, Martin van Bruinessen, in Les Kurdes et les Etats, Peuples Mediterraneens / Mediterranean Peoples, No. 68–69, Revue trimestrielle - juillet-décembre 1994.

Under the first republican regime after 1958, some Feyli Kurds were naturalized, but the rest were refused Iraqi nationality.Minority Rights in the Middle East, Joshua Castellino, Kathleen A. Cavanaugh, 2013, pp. 206, . Abdulkarim Qasim had given Iraqi citizenship to thousands of Feyli Kurds. By the time the Ba'athists were in power, most Feyli Kurds were Iraqi citizens or permanent residents.Faylis, Kurds and Lurs: Ambiguity on the frontier of Iran and Iraq, an overview of the literature, Third International Conference on Faylee Kurds, Brussels, European Parliament, 12 April 2018, Martin van Bruinessen, pp. 6-7, Utrecht University. The Ba'athist government targeted the Feyli Kurds due to their membership of a collective group. After 1963, when Abdulkarim Qasim was overthrown, the Ba'athist government immediately began targeting the Feyli Kurds, under the pretext that they had Iranian origin, with Iran being traditionally seen as an enemy in Iraq. The government created narratives of Feyli Kurds being aggressors from outside and immediately began creating laws which affected the Feyli Kurds. Moreover, the Feyli Kurds had actively resisted the Ba'athists during the 1963 coup, creating more animosity towards them.Origins of the Kurdish Genocide: Nation Building and Genocide as a Civilizing and De-Civilizing Process, Ibrahim Sadiq, 2021, pp. 84-85, .

The Ba'athist government had feared the potential of the Feyli Kurds if the government was weakened, as they were both Kurds and Shias, and the principal traders of Iraq.The Palgrave Handbook of Kurdish Genocides, 2025, pp. 219, .The Palgrave Handbook of Kurdish Genocides, 2025, pp. 220, . Their loyalty was also suspected.Federalism and Decentralization in the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa, 2023, pp. 188, . They were mainly targeted for being Kurds, with their alleged Iranian background only having been the official justification.Historical Dictionary of the Kurds, Michael M. Gunter, Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and Cultures, No. 1, 2004, pp. 51, . Before the Ba'athist era, most Feyli Kurds were involved in politics, in which they supported either the Kurdistan Democratic Party or the Iraqi Communist Party.Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in Iraq, 2002, pp. 203–204, . Since Iraqi independence, successive governments had failed to resolve the nationality issue of the Feyli Kurds, and despite occasional small-scale deportations, they were largely left alone before the Ba'athist period.Genocidal Nightmares: Narratives of Insecurity and the Logic of Mass Atrocities, 2015, pp. 178, .

Persecution During the Ramadan Revolution, the Feyli Kurds in Baghdad immediately took to the streets and tried to stop the Ba'athist tanks from advancing on the Ministry of Defence.Pluralism in the Iraqi Novel After 2003: Literature and the Recovery of National Identity, Ronen Zeidel, 2020, pp. 111, . Ba'athist authorities contacted the KDP headquarters in Baghdad asking them to convince the Feyli Kurds to stop fighting, which eventually happened. However, the Ba'athists "never forgot that episode of rebellion" from the Feyli Kurds who were the "only remaining group standing against the Ba'athists" after 1963.Nation Building in Kurdistan: Memory, Genocide and Human Rights, Mohammed Ihsan, 2016, pp. 46, ISBN: 9781317090168. Later in 1963, the Ba'athist government added Article 19 of the Citizenship law, stating "the Minister may withdraw the Iraqi citizenship from a foreigner who has acquired it or if he attempted to do anything is considered as a threat to state security or its safety." According to the article, the Feyli Kurds fell under the category of those who acquired Iraqi citizenship.Origins of the Kurdish Genocide: Nation Building and Genocide as a Civilizing and De-Civilizing Process, Ibrahim Sadiq, 2021, pp. 85, .

After the 17 July Revolution, the second Ba'athist coup in 1968, the campaigns against the Feyli Kurds intensified, and they were targeted everywhere. In 1970, they further intensified and began needing legal justifications. One of the justifications was the Iraqi Temporary Nationality Act No. (21) of 1968, in which Article 20 stated that "an Iraqi nationality is determined by the law and shall not be dropped from Iraq who belongs to the Iraqi families and was living in Iraq before 6 August 1924 and have been enjoying the Ottoman nationality and chose the Iraqi pastoral", and that "it is possible to withdraw the citizenship from naturalized citizens in cases specified by the nationality act." This justified the withdrawal of Iraqi nationality for those who had non-Ottoman nationality before 1924, considering the Feyli Kurds as foreigners or Iranian dependents.The Palgrave Handbook of Kurdish Genocides, 2025, pp. 223, . The "central report of the 9th regional Conference of the Baath Party" criticized Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for terminating the Convention of 1937 in April 1969, calling him a "threat to the sovereignty of Iraq". They also criticized his support for Barzani, and portrayed the Feyli Kurds as Iranian residents in Iraq conspiring against the government. The Feyli Kurds had been dehumanized and demonized to justify the process and gain public support for it. Around 70,000 Feyli Kurds were registered for deportation in 1969, 1970, and 1971.Origins of the Kurdish Genocide: Nation Building and Genocide as a Civilizing and De-Civilizing Process, Ibrahim Sadiq, 2021, pp. 90-91, . Justifications included officially classifying them as Iranian and as "traitors" of Arab nationalism, the "fifth column of Iraq", as aides to Iranian and Zionist operations inside Iraq, as vile and profane, and as a contamination of Iraqi blood.Nation Building in Kurdistan: Memory, Genocide and Human Rights, Mohammed Ihsan, 2016, pp. 53, ISBN: 9781317090168.

One of the demands of the Kurdish rebels during the First Iraqi–Kurdish War was the naturalization of the Feyli Kurds, which Abdul Salam Arif refused,Iraq Under Qassem: A Political History, 1958-1963, Uriel Dann, 1969, pp. 137, .Der Kurdistan-Irak-Konflikt: der Weg zur Autonomie seit dem Ersten Weltkrieg, Awat Asadi, 2007, pp. 155, . and the Iraqi government did not change its policy on the Feyli Kurds even after the Iraqi-Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970. As part of the agreement, the KDP nominated Habib Mohammad Karim, a Feyli Kurd, for vice president of Iraq, although the Ba'athist government refused, alleging that he was of Iranian origin and had family in Iran, and demanding that the Kurds nominate someone else.The Kurdish Question in Iraq, Edmund Ghareeb, 1981, pp. 105. . Shortly after the agreement was signed, the Iraqi government expelled thousands of Feyli Kurds from Iraq and launched a new Arabization campaign. Eventually, the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War broke out.The Palgrave Handbook of Kurdish Genocides, 2025, pp. 221, . The rejection of Habib Karim, the preferred candidate among Kurds, as well as the continued targeting of the Feyli Kurds after the agreement was signed were some of the factors which led to the breakdown of the agreement.The Modern History of Iraq, Phebe Marr, 2012, pp. 152, .The Kurds in Iraq - Second Edition: The Past, Present and Future, Kerim Yildiz, 2007, pp. 19, . When Mustafa Barzani left for Iran in 1975, many Feyli Kurds switched to other Kurdish groups, primarily the PUK.The Palgrave Handbook of Kurdish Genocides, 2025, pp. 222, . During this time, the Feyli Kurds generally supported the Kurdish nationalist groups, or the SCIRI, in which they had representatives.Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in Iraq, 2002, pp. 182, . The deportation of the Feyli Kurds continued from 1969 to 1980.The Long March to the West: Twenty-first Century Migration in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean Area, 2007, pp. 350, . Feyli Kurds were mainly targeted in Baghdad, Basra, and Amarah.The Kurds in Syria: The Forgotten People, Kerim Yildiz, 2005, pp. 18, .The Long March to the West: Twenty-first Century Migration in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean Area, 2007, pp. 355, . Most of the community was impacted by the deportations.Sunnis and Shi'a: A Political History, Laurence Louër, 2022, pp. 114, .

After the 1979 Iranian revolution, the Iraqi tensions with Iran increased, and the Ba'athist government targeted the Feyli Kurds again. In addition to Feyli Kurds, the Iraqi Persians and some Shia Arabs were regarded as a fifth column and deported.The Long March to the West: Twenty-first Century Migration in Europe and the Greater Mediterranean Area, 2007, pp. 355, . The Feyli Kurds and the Iraqi Persians were the most affected by the deportations.Kurdish Awakening: Nation Building in a Fragmented Homeland, 2014, pp. 124, .Iran, Iraq and the Arab Gulf States, 2016, pp. 79, . Shia Turkmen were deported to Iran alongside Feyli Kurds throughout the 1970s and 1980s.How to Build a New Iraq After Saddam, Patrick Clawson, 2002, pp. 39, . There was formerly a small Lur population in eastern Iraq, near the Feyli Kurds, although around 1975 they underwent a large-scale migration to Iran due to political factors.https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/lori-language-ii/Anonby, Erik John. “Update on Luri: How Many Languages?” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 13, no. 2, 2003, pp. 174. As many as 90% of Iraqi deportees to Iran in the 1980s were Feyli Kurds.Ayatollahs, Sufis and Ideologues: State, Religion and Social Movements in Iraq, 2002, pp. 198, .