The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-05871, in the name of Bob Doris, on the Kurdish contribution to Scotland, remembering Halabja. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises the contributions to Glasgow and wider Scottish society by the Kurdish diaspora; welcomes the role that Kurds and other migrants play in making Scotland a vibrant and multicultural nation; understands that many Kurds have made a new life for themselves all over the world after fleeing several countries, including Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, for many reasons, especially violence, discrimination and persecution against their language, education, religion and culture; particularly notes the 25th anniversary of the horrific attack on Halabja in northern Iraq on 16 March 1988, which is reported to have left up to 5,000 dead and another 7,000 to 10,000 injured, mostly unarmed women and children, from indiscriminate chemical and conventional bombardment; understands that this attack was part of the larger Anfal Campaign, a bureaucratic ethnic cleansing directive led by Saddam Hussein and Ali Hassan al-Majid from 1987 to April 1989, marked by mass disappearances, village destruction and forced relocation, executions, detainments and the use of chemical weapons; understands that up to 4,000 villages were destroyed and 182,000 people killed or reported missing as a result of the campaign; welcomes the 2005 Hague decision that formally recognised the 1988 attacks as genocide and the decisions by the UK, Norwegian, and Swedish parliaments to do the same, and believes that formal recognition will bring justice and awareness to the plight of the Kurdish people and comfort to Kurdish communities around the world still suffering as a result of these tragic events.
18:04
I begin by welcoming my Kurdish constituents from Glasgow—and, in particular, a young man, Mr Shakha Sattar—who inspired me to secure this debate in Scotland’s national Parliament. It might be a politician who is opening the debate, but it is very much the Kurds of Glasgow who have brought it to the Parliament. I also welcome Kurds from other parts of Scotland and from across the United Kingdom and beyond who are here, and I thank them for their support. [Applause.]
I know that the debate has generated much interest in Kurdistan and in Kurdish communities around the world, and I want to say a few words to pay respect to them.
Ema Sarbarzin ba Kurdakani Scotland. Bashdari Kurdakan le komalgay emada gringa boman. Scotland herqyz karasata tyrsnakakani Halabja w anfal la yad nakat ka boona hoay hatni zhmaraiky zory Kurd bo welatekaman. [Applause.] I hope that I said that we are proud of Scotland’s Kurds, that their contribution to our society is valued by our nation, and that Scotland will never forget the horrific events at Halabja and the brutal Anfal campaign that brought many Kurds to our shores.
The debate is an opportunity to pay tribute to them and to thank them for all that they do for Scotland. It is also important that we stand in solidarity with Scotland’s Kurds and recognise the pain and suffering that led many of them and their families to come to Scotland in the first place. As it is now 25 years since the horrors of Halabja and the Anfal campaign, it is both right and timely for Scotland to show solidarity with them.
We must all do what we can to prevent such genocide and such acts against humanity from ever happening again. For me, never forgetting those events and recognising them as genocide are fundamental to ensuring that that is the case. Two other motions before the Scottish Parliament seek to do likewise.
The genocide has been recognised. In 2005, the International Court of Justice in The Hague recognised it and, in 2007, it again said at an appeal that there had been genocidal intent. Between 2007 and 2010, the Supreme Court of Iraq ruled that the 1988 attacks on the Kurdish population constituted genocide. That they were genocide has been acknowledged by members of the Swedish, Norwegian and Westminster Parliaments.
On 16 March 1988, indiscriminate rocket, phosphorus and napalm attacks fell upon Halabja. Chemical weapons that are likely to have included mustard gas, various nerve agents and cyanide were carried by Iraqi MiG and Mirage fighters. Up to 5,000 Kurds died and 10,000 were injured. Most were women and children. Many died instantly. Others did not—they died painfully from their injuries, in some cases much, much later. No one can ever quantify the physical pain and mental anguish of those who survived, but other long-term effects can be quantified, such as higher probabilities of miscarriage, infertility, birth defects, blood malignancies and cancer.
Al-Anfal in 1988 was part of wider attacks that were carried out on Kurds between March 1987 and April 1989. During that two-year period, Kurds were forced to endure great pain. That evil campaign was led by Saddam Hussein’s first cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, who was notoriously known as Chemical Ali. The scale of the horror was massive. Thousands of Kurdish villages—perhaps 90 per cent of all Kurdish villages in Iraq—were destroyed. Official figures document that 100,000 persons disappeared in 1988 alone, although some Kurdish sources claim that the figure could be as high as 182,000. Those who were abducted or arrested were often sent to concentration camps, where women and children were separated from men of military age. The elderly and infirm were also separated from others.
Many Kurds across the world—many of whom were displaced because of these very events—live with the memory of those atrocities. Younger Kurds in Glasgow and elsewhere have heard stories about the events, and it is vital that the younger generation grows up with the knowledge and understanding of the previous generation’s suffering. I know that many of them have done so. However, it is not only Kurds who should remember such terrible events, but all of us.
Before today’s debate, Fergus Ewing MSP told me about his work with Kurds in Glasgow in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He recalls attending a ceremony in Queens park—which is one of Glasgow’s large parks—where a tree was planted by Kurdish families in remembrance of those whose lives were lost at Halabja. That small gesture is a powerful symbol of solidarity with Kurds not only in Glasgow but everywhere.
I am sure that there have been similar events across Scotland over the years in remembrance of Halabja and Anfal. Perhaps the Scottish Government will consider how to support and co-ordinate such activities in the future.
I said that such genocide must never be allowed to happen again. Looking at the world, we see how troubled it can be. Remembering the history of pain and suffering is crucial to that, but so is how people respond. Peace and mutual respect are vital ingredients in that response, too. For Glasgow and Scotland, that should be about celebrating our Kurdish communities—not only the Kurdish doctors, lawyers and engineers who contribute to our society, but the asylum seekers and refugees who still need much support and assistance.
I began by mentioning Shakha Sattar. His response to the atrocities when he came to Scotland as a boy was to grow up steadfast in the belief that helping his community in Glasgow was how he could play his part in ensuring a positive legacy from such terrible crimes. It is a privilege to work with him and others on that task.
Scotland is a more rich and vibrant place because of the contribution that many new Scots have made to our nation. Glasgow’s Kurds are a powerful part of that mix.
I note that today we commemorate with sadness the events of Halabja and Anfal. It is crucial that we also celebrate the contribution that Glasgow’s and Scotland’s Kurds have made to our nation.
18:13
I congratulate Bob Doris on securing a debate on such an important subject. I very much echo the sentiments expressed in the motion, which
“welcomes the role that Kurds and other migrants play in making Scotland a vibrant and multicultural nation”.
Indeed, that has always been the position of the Scottish Labour Party and the approach of the Parliament since its inception. Modern Scotland views ethnic diversity as a strength; it is a multicultural society that sees new citizens in a positive light. Such variety enriches our communities and our democracy.
Tragically, in Iraq, the Kurdish people have over many decades faced significant and violent opposition to their desire to progress towards an acceptable degree of Kurdish autonomy. As far back as 1960, Kurds led by Mustafa Barzani were engaged in heavy fighting against successive Iraqi regimes. In 1970, Iraq announced a peace plan providing for Kurdish autonomy but, of course, that did not last, and by 1974 the Iraqi Government had begun a new offensive against the Kurds.
During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the regime implemented anti-Kurdish policies and a de facto civil war broke out. It is shameful that although the Iraqi regime was widely and rightly condemned by the international community, it was never punished for its actions—not for the deportation of thousands of Kurds to central and southern Iraq, not for the complete destruction of villages, and not even for the mass murder of thousands of Kurdish civilians.
The motion rightly focuses our attention on the notorious attack on Halabja, in northern Iraq, on 16 March 1988. The atrocity was perhaps the most infamous episode in the genocidal campaign that was waged against the Kurdish people between 1986 and 1988 by the Iraqi regime—it does not deserve the name “Government”, so I do not intend to use it. The campaign included ground offensives, aerial bombing, systematic destruction of settlements, firing squads and the horror of the largest chemical weapons attack in history to be directed at an area populated by civilians.
We should never forget the attack, which killed up to 5,000 people and injured up to 10,000 more—predominantly civilians. Thousands more died of complications, disease and birth defects in the years after the attack. It is right that the motion reminds us that the attack on Halabja was part of the larger Anfal campaign, which was led by the bloody tyrant Saddam Hussein. It is also right that the Parliament welcomes the 2005 decision in The Hague that formally recognised the 1988 attack as genocide, just as the UK, Swedish and Norwegian Parliaments have done. I hope that such an approach will help to generate awareness of what the Kurdish people have endured in their struggle for democracy.
Last year I had the pleasure of meeting representatives of the Kurdistan Regional Government, courtesy of my colleague Hanzala Malik. I also had the privilege of being able to take part in an interview with Kurdistan Television. I think that that helps to demonstrate how things have begun to change since the fall of Saddam Hussein. Conditions for people in Iraqi Kurdistan have changed. Literacy has increased significantly, infant mortality has fallen, there are seven universities where there used to be one, and there is of course a regional devolved Government. That is not to say that the invasion was correct or indeed the only option, or that all is now well for the Kurdish community. However, the changes illustrate that matters of war and peace are more complex and their consequences less easy to predict than is suggested in the one-dimensional analysis that is sometimes evident.
It is an honour to have representatives of the Kurdish community living in my home city of Glasgow. It is also an honour to have representatives of the community in the Parliament today. I very much look forward to meeting them later and I am grateful to Bob Doris for lodging the motion.
18:17
I congratulate Bob Doris on securing this debate on a subject of international importance and on affording our Parliament the opportunity to mark the tremendous contribution that the Kurdish community makes to Scotland.
It is right that we mark and remember the 25th anniversary of the horrific attack on Halabja, which left up to 5,000 people dead and another 7,000 to 10,000 people injured—mostly unarmed women and children. The attack featured the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons such as mustard gas, as well as conventional bombardment. As Bob Doris reminded us, the UK, Norwegian and Swedish Parliaments have recognised it as genocide.
It is also right and proper that we mark the fact that Kurdish heritage is rooted in one of the world’s oldest cultures. We in Scotland owe a great debt of gratitude to the many Kurds who have chosen to make Scotland their home. The addition of a people with such a noble culture, steeped in history, has made a great contribution to the rich and vibrant tapestry of life in Scotland and helps to make our nation a vibrant and diverse place in which to live.
The Kurdish people are the largest national minority in the world that has no homeland. We in Scotland can be proud that, according to the Kurdish Cultural Association, more than 2,000 Kurds have chosen to make Scotland their home. Last week, Kurds around the world celebrated the festival of Newroz, the Kurdish new year, and I offer my sincere thanks to all the Kurds who are in the gallery and throughout Scotland for the contribution that they make to the country that they now call home. I am proud to have in my constituency members of the Kurdish diaspora—a people who are renowned for their hard work and for their tenacity in the face of adversity and brutality.
Around the world the Kurdish culture is famous for its ancient history and its distinct culture transmitted through art, dance and song. The Kurdish people have a rich literary history, despite a long history of oppression that includes the banning of the written and spoken Kurdish word. The defining trait of Kurdish culture is its language, which until very recently was brutally suppressed. Despite the oppression that the Kurdish people have faced, they continue to speak their language, in which Bob Doris opened the debate.
Scotland is a country that celebrates cultural diversity and that is particularly true in our cosmopolitan capital. We are proud that the Edinburgh Kurdish Society has been based here since 1993 and we benefit greatly from its addition to the local community. One recent event saw the Edinburgh Kurdish Society open its doors to people of all cultures and creeds in order to share ideas and discuss how greater links could be forged between the many cultures that are present in Scotland.
There are many similarities between our two lands, not least the fact that the Kurdish national dish of serupe, made from all the best bits of a sheep sewn up with various herbs and spices, bears more than a passing resemblance to our own national delicacy. As was pointed out by Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s high representative to the UK, we both have a population of 5 million; we are proud of our highlands and landscapes; we have devolved administrations and are rich in natural resources.
The Scottish Government has been proactive in fostering close ties between Kurdish and Scottish officials. Meetings between the First Minister and Karim Sinjari, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s interior minister, focused on developing future cooperation in areas from education, health, policing, energy and business to culture and heritage. Scotland has already provided some police training in Kurdistan and Mr Sinjari and Cabinet Secretary for Justice Kenny MacAskill have already discussed ways to progress that and to widen cooperation.
Once again, I congratulate Bob Doris on bringing the debate to the chamber. Along with members of all parties, I look forward to deepening the relationship between the Scottish and Kurdish peoples and embracing the Kurdish community as a vital and valued part of a vibrant and multicultural Scotland.
18:22
I too congratulate Bob Doris on securing the debate and I welcome those in the gallery who have travelled to be with us in the Scottish Parliament.
I must say, however, that it is with mixed emotions that I make my speech. Reflecting on atrocities such as those systematically inflicted on the Kurdish people since the early 1980s is never something to savour. However, the debate provides us with an opportunity to remember those crimes, to learn the lessons that we can and, importantly, to celebrate the Kurdish people, their future and their contribution to Scotland.
I turn first to remembering. It was 25 years and 10 days ago that the skies above Halabja rained bombs, both conventional and chemical, on its innocent inhabitants. An estimated 5,000 civilians were massacred over the two-day bombardment with a further 10,000 injured, some in the most unimaginable ways.
The massacre at Halabja was just one part of the Anfal campaign during which, at the behest of Saddam Hussein, some 180,000 Kurds lost their lives between 1987 and 1989. It is right that we remember those outrageous atrocities and it is for that reason that I recently lodged a motion in the Parliament to remember the struggles of the Kurdish people and formally to recognise the genocide committed against them. I am pleased that so many members supported that motion. It is also a tribute to the Scottish Parliament, as well as an indication that we take the Kurdish population and its interests at home and abroad seriously, that the formal recognition of the Anfal genocide was also the subject of motions by both Labour and the SNP. Today is a significant and symbolic occasion on which the Kurdish genocide can receive further parliamentary recognition.
Secondly, I turn to the lessons that we can learn from the events in Kurdistan over the past 25 years. As all of us here will surely agree, there are profound lessons to be learned. For my part the Kurdish experience confirmed my belief that human nature is incompatible with totalitarianism and that only when a people are liberated from tyranny can they progress, prosper and flourish.
That brings me to my third point—what can we celebrate, 25 years after Halabja and the Anfal campaign? Since liberation in 1991 we have seen democracy flourish in Kurdistan. We have seen the economy prosper, civil society blossom and the regeneration of Kurdish civil rights and liberties. Kurdistan now has seven public universities bringing higher education to its citizens. It has a stable and democratically elected Parliament, with a percentage of women representatives similar to that in our own Parliament. It has progressive laws that have banned female circumcision and which protect women from domestic abuse. Violence, terrorist activity and the persecution of religious minorities are significantly lower—in some cases, non-existent—in comparison with the rest of Iraq.
All that serves to underline Kurdistan’s place as a progressive beacon in the Middle East. Tonight’s debate represents an opportunity to celebrate Scotland’s links with Kurdistan, both internationally, with the relationship between our Parliaments and Governments, and nationally, with the Kurds who live and work in Scotland.
We must never forget the atrocities committed against Kurds—atrocities which led the head of the Iraqi graves commission to remark that,
“There is another Iraq, buried under Iraq.”
Tonight’s debate allows us to remember, learn and celebrate.
18:26
I thank Bob Doris for securing today’s debate. I would like to start with the words: “Bismillah-hir-Rahman-nir-Rahim”. For the record, that means: “In the name of God, the benevolent and merciful”. I also add: “As-salam alaykum”. That means: “Peace be upon you all”—and in particular upon our guests today in the chamber and their brothers and sisters at home in Kurdistan.
I add my voice to the debate and urge the Scottish Government to recognise formally the genocide of the people of Iraqi Kurdistan. I also encourage the European Union and the United Nations to do likewise, as many of the perpetrators seem to have escaped prosecution. Doing so will enable the Kurdish people—many of whom are in Scotland—to feel a sense of achievement and justice after their loss. The United Kingdom Parliament has already recognised the Kurdish genocide after the campaign led by Bayan Abdul Rahman. I congratulate her and her team on that achievement.
The genocide went on for decades—in fact, since early 1963—and it involved the deportation of ordinary Kurdish people, the use of chemical weapons in the 1970 and 1980s, and then the campaign of 1987-88 in which hundreds of thousands of innocent people died. Families were torn apart. More than 4,500 villages were destroyed between 1976 and 1988 alone—genocide at its worst, while the whole world sat back and did nothing. That we allowed that genocide to happen in our day and age is a shame upon us.
On a positive note, I am very fortunate to have made at least two visits to Kurdistan in recent years and I am planning a third. I have received six delegations from Kurdistan, who have had meetings with people including the First Minister, the justice secretary, the education secretary and many officials and members—all in a bid to do our bit in trying to correct history. I have written two reports that explore how we can offer support to our friends in Kurdistan—one of which I have presented to the First Minister—and a third report is being done just now.
On education, we are looking at establishing university campuses in Kurdistan and at students coming to Scotland to study. We are also looking at law and order and policing, as has already been mentioned. I had the privilege of visiting the police training centre in Erbil and I was very impressed with the level of training on offer and, more importantly, the feeling that I got from the young students there who felt an ownership. They felt that they could work with the community rather than the community feeling dictated to and abused by the police force. That is a new concept in policing.
We also looked at water supply and water treatment issues, and at gas and oil exploration. We are now exploring the possibility of ministerial visits to Kurdistan, in a bid to bridge the gaps between our communities.
Kurdistan is similar to Scotland. It has a population of approximately 5 million and it is a mountainous region. The shame is that, in the genocide that took place, it was the innocent people who suffered. The people who were scratching a living on the barren, hard land with no irrigation facilities were targeted with poison gas weapons. I still cannot understand how the Iraqi Government got away with it. I still do not understand why we human beings allow such things to happen internationally.
I agree with all the sentiments that Hanzala Malik has expressed. The European Union and the United Nations have been mentioned. I believe that the genocide should be formally recognised by both those institutions, but not just as an end in itself. Rather than just individual Parliaments recognising the genocide, the strength of having it recognised by the United Nations would be in the entire international community that turned its back on the people of Kurdistan formally recognising the genocide that took place there. That would be a powerful cathartic experience for the international community in ensuring that such events never happen again.
I thank the member for that intervention. I agree with him, which is why I suggest that the UN must take that proposal on board. We continue to see genocide taking place around the world, and we need to say that enough is enough. We must learn the lessons. Young Parliaments such as the Scottish Parliament have an important role to play in adding their voices to those of all the world’s Governments in saying that we, too, want the UN to take that proposal on board.
18:32
I thank Bob Doris for lodging the motion and securing a debate that will promote greater understanding of the plight of Iraqi Kurds as well as highlighting and commemorating the terrible tragedies of Halabja and the Anfal campaign. Importantly, it also allows us to reflect—as every member has done—on the contribution that the Kurdish community has made to Scotland. I add my voice and the voice of the Scottish Government to those welcoming the Kurdish community to our and their Parliament.
Last week, the Parliament reflected on the 10-year anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. When coalition forces entered Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, they found mass graves concealing men, women and children, all killed for nothing but their ethnicity. As members have said, last week also marked the 25th anniversary of the Anfal campaign, the last and most well-known phase of persecution against the Iraqi Kurds in 1987-88. It is estimated that 180,000 people perished in a systematic ethnic cleansing programme—as Hanzala Malik said, there were perhaps many more whom, to this day, we still do not know about. The campaign was instigated by Saddam Hussein and the Baathist regime against the mainly Kurdish population in northern Iraq.
The atrocities were characterised by the gross violation of human rights and included mass executions and the disappearance of men, women and children; the widespread use of chemical weapons including mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin—the worst incident being, as members have said, in Halabja, where 5,000 civilian inhabitants are thought to have died in a single aerial bombardment using such chemical weapons; the destruction of 2,000 villages as well as dozens of towns and administrative centres; and huge numbers being imprisoned without just cause other than their presumed sympathies for the Kurdish.
In 1993, the Human Rights Watch report on the Anfal campaign against the Iraqi Kurds concluded:
“This crime far transcended legitimate counterinsurgency and includes the murder and disappearance of tens of thousands of non-combatants due to their ethnic-national identity.”
There can be no doubt that it was ethnic cleansing.
The events of 1987-88 are a tragic example of a man’s inhumanity and act as a reminder that Scotland’s strong and enduring commitment to human rights cannot be taken for granted. That places a responsibility on us as a nation to ensure that other countries develop and maintain a similar commitment.
The Scottish Government’s international work reflects Scotland’s enduring social democratic values. We also use our international engagement as an opportunity to help to increase respect for and understanding of human rights worldwide, not through arrogant lecturing but through mature, even-tempered discourse with our international partners.
We have on-going dialogue with states at ministerial and official level to raise human rights issues where appropriate in a diplomatic and culturally sensitive fashion. I mention that because, as John Lamont and others said, not everything is rosy. Things are improving in northern Iraq, but not everything is rosy and human rights abuses are still regularly flagged up. Developing relationships with these countries helps further to increase our understanding of shared world values.
I want to take a moment to reflect as others have done on Scotland and Kurdistan’s relationship, which Jim Eadie, John Lamont, Hanzala Malik and Bob Doris mentioned; they gave their own personal accounts of how that relationship has been built, whether through visits and inward delegations or through the fact that they have members of the Kurdish community in their constituencies and regions. Scotland and Kurdistan share many commonalities: both have a population of 5 million; oil, water and gas are our main natural resources; and, of course, we are both located north of a more populous neighbour.
The Scottish Government hosted two interns from the Kurdistan regional Government on a work placement in 2011 to help Kurdistan to develop its understanding of devolved government procedures. Ministers have also met representatives of the Kurdistan regional Government to explore areas in which our two countries can work together and where Scotland can share her expertise, for example in the fields of business, finance, education and engaging with the diaspora. I welcome that role, as others have done.
I welcome the contribution that the Kurdish diaspora and other populations make to Scottish society. For generations, Scotland has opened its doors to refugees, students, migrant workers and visitors from around the world, all of whom have contributed—through their ideas, skills and talents—to building our country’s future.
I often say that in Scotland we take the best from our migrant populations—from those new Scots; and I always say that cuisine is one of the things that benefits the most. From the Italian community we took spaghetti bolognese; from the Pakistani and Indian community we took chicken tikka masala; and it seems that Jim Eadie was perhaps suggesting that we took haggis from our Kurdish population, which might be a controversial thing to say. We take from the best and we have taken much from our Kurdish community.
Here in Scotland, we do not see ethnic, religious or cultural diversity as anything to be threatened by; rather, we see it as something to embrace as it contributes to making Scotland a safer, stronger and more inclusive society.
This debate is about remembering those who did no crime but were subjected to the worst punishment. In the modern day and age in which we live, it can be easy to become desensitised to violence and tragedy. However, the stories of the most profound human suffering cannot but affect us all.
I conclude the debate by assuring members that the Scottish Government recognises the immense suffering of the Kurdish people during that terrible period in history. On the substance of one element of the motion, I say that members will be aware that foreign affairs are, of course, a matter reserved to the UK Government. However, I am pleased that the Scottish Parliament is debating the motion, with consensus from across the parties, to say that it welcomes the 2005 Hague decision that formally recognised the 1988 attacks as genocide. This Parliament joins the UK, Norwegian and Swedish Parliament in doing so.
In a recent debate in the House of Commons, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister Alistair Burt said that genocide was not a term for the UK Government to decide upon but a legal decision to be taken in international fora. The UK Government’s current position is not sufficient, and it recognises that itself. I therefore commit the Scottish Government to working with my colleague Bob Doris and with leaders in the Scottish Kurdish community to impress on the UK Government the need to find a route to recognise the Anfal campaign appropriately and internationally, and the need for a more robust response.
There is no question in my mind and in the minds of decent people around the world but that the people of Iraqi Kurdistan were the victims of the most unspeakable crimes, perpetrated by a vicious and evil regime that had no hesitation in committing crimes against humanity and slaughtering the innocent simply because of their identity and language and their desire for freedom from fear and oppression.
The Anfal campaign is a stain on our collective conscience, and we must never allow it to happen again.
Meeting closed at 18:40.Previous
Decision Time