Genocide of Faily Kurds -1980
From establishing the Iraqi state in 1924, the Iraqi Citizenship Law emphasized dividing the Iraqi population based on religion, nationality, and ethnicity. The Failis were categorized as Iranians, making them a target for constant persecution by the Iraqi authorities.From the era of the monarchy to the age of the republic and until the fall of the Baath regime, they faced exile, deportation, forced migration, genocide, and ethnic cleansing, which intensified significantly from 1936 onwards.
A look at the history and origin of the name Faily Kurds
There are many theories regarding the Kurdish Faily name, and it’s a continuous topic of debate. However, the clearest one is that the word Faily” comes from the root word “Pahlavi” (in Kurdish, pahli, pahlawan, or pala), which means hero. When this word was Arabized, it became fahla, fahlavi, and fahli, which over time changed to Faily.
The Kurd Kalhor/Pahly or Faily are the southern Zagros indigenous people, currently referred to in English as Pehlí, Faili, or Fayli. In Arabic, they are referred to as (ALFailiyon-الفیلیون) or (الأکرد الفیلي, Faily Kurds ) or (الفیلیة- ALFaliya), and in Persian, from the root word “Pahlavi,” they are named “Fily.” They are considered an integral part of the Kurdish nation and speak in three Kurdish dialects: Ilami, Laki, and Lori.
The roots of the Faily Kurds trace back to the migrants from India and Europe in the first millennium BCE. Pahlis are divided almost evenly between Shia Muslim followers and the native Kurdish Yazdan religion (a branch of Ahl-e Haqq) Yarsan. Their conversion to Shiism among the Faily Kurds began during the Safavid dynasty in Iran (1507-1721).
The Faily Kurds live both in Iran and Iraq, specifically in the Iranian provinces of Lorestan, Kermanshah, and Ilam, as well as parts of the Kurdistan region and in Iraq, east of the Tigris, Baghdad, Diyala, Kut, Maysan, and other central and southern provinces. In Iraq, they are an integral and ancient part of the region.
The Faily Kurds are a group of Elam Kurds living in the Zagros mountains. Most historians believe they descended from the Elamites or Gutians. In Ilam province, there’s a region named پهلە, from which the name Faily is believed to have been derived.
Regarding the Faili Kurds, if we look at the beginning of establishing the Iraqi state in 1924, the Iraqi citizenship law emphasized dividing the Iraqi people into three parts based on religion, ethnicity, and lineage.
As a result, they have always been targeted by Iraqi authorities. From the monarchy to the republic and the fall of the Ba’ath regime, they faced forced exile, expulsion, genocide, and ethnic cleansing in four main stages.
Stages of forced exile, deportation, and genocide of Faily Kurds
Monarchy Era
First Stage (1936): The Faili Kurds were exiled to Iran during the reign of Yasin Hashemi when Rashid Ali al-Gaylani was the Minister of Interior.
Republic Era
Second Stage (1969): The Faili Kurds faced severe exile, destroying 200 families.
Third Stage (1971-1972): This Stage mainly covered most of the Faili Kurds in the Amara province. Approximately 40,000 Faili Kurds were expelled because they were of Iranian origin.
Fourth Stage (April 4, 1980 – May 19, 1990): The genocide of the Faili Kurds took place until the fall of the Ba’ath regime, using various methods against them.
The historical injustices against the Faili Kurds are a significant part of the larger tapestry of the Middle Eastern political landscape. The political persecutions, forced exiles, and genocides they faced show the complexities and challenges of their history within the Iraqi state.
This process began with the arrest of 400 Faily business people who played a pivotal role in the Iraqi economy.
The Faily Kurds faced deportation, expulsion, and forced migration to Iran and southern Iraq. Their citizenship rights were revoked under Resolutions 180 and 666 in 1980, leading to ethnic cleansing in their areas and the confiscation of their properties through Decision 916 and many similar rulings.
The Faily Kurds suffered brutal attacks, with women, men, and children being deprived and killed on an unprecedented scale. Saddam Hussein, the former president of the Ba’ath regime, issued a decree that undermined the family structure. According to Revolutionary Command Council Decision No. 474, Iraqi men married to a Kurdish Faily woman who is officially divorced in court will receive a reward of 4,000 dinars if they are military, and ordinary civilians 2,500 dinars.
“In the Faily Kurds mass executions, 23,000 individuals aged 18 to 28 were either executed as productive forces, sent to minefields during the Iran-Iraq war, tested with mass-destruction weapons, or brutally dissolved in acid pits. They are still missing to this day.”
All these crimes were committed by issuing several decisions by the now-dissolved Revolutionary Leadership Council and establishing numerous intelligence, military, and administrative committees for their execution.
Available documents and statistics indicate that approximately 750,000 people were forcibly evicted. Many spent years in camps in Iran, some eventually returning hoping to rebuild their lives.
After the fall of the Ba’ath regime in 2003, Decree 666 was repealed by the Iraqi Citizenship Law in 2006, enabling some Faily Kurds to regain citizenship rights.
The case of genocide of faily Kurds in the high criminal court of Iraq
After the fall of the Ba’ath regime in 2003, the case of the Faily was indeed referred to the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court on December 21, 2008. On November 29, 2011, a genocide verdict was handed down in their favor. The Iraqi parliament and the Iraqi federal government later approved the decision.
However, despite recognizing genocide and official approval, the living conditions of the Faily Kurds have not fully returned to pre-criminal rights. The Iraqi government has failed to provide total compensation, as in other cases of genocide against the Kurdish people. The Faily continue to look forward to comprehensive solutions to the injustices they have suffered.