Village Life in Iraqi Kurdistan
Village life has always been at the heart of the Kurds’ sense of identity, a way of life often threatened by violent events. In these film clips, villagers reminisce about the lives they once led.
Rural Kurdistan: Backbone of the Resistance
Kurdish villagers provided the peshmerga with shelter, food and logistical support and were essential for the survival of the resistance in Iraq. Saddam Hussein’s regime wiped out 4,500 villages and killed up to 182,000 Kurds in retaliation.
An Iraqi plane once shot at us while we were doing our laundry – we ran in fear
The Kurdish people really believed in the peshmerga and gave them courage
I am a priest serving Kurdistan
If we are here 30 or more years we will serve the victims of Anfal but we cannot heal their wounds
You would be arrested if you told the doctor you were ill because of Saddam's chemicals
Those innocent people had no idea the Iraqi government wanted to bury them alive
We were brave in hand to hand combat but couldn't fight chemical weapons
Attack on the Balisan Valley
The Balisan valley was attacked with poison gas on 16 April 1987. Villagers had built air raid shelters in the mountains but had no defence against chemicals. This attack was the first time in world history that a government used poison gas against its civilian population.
No one was left alive: it was like the end of the world
I can never forget the moment the secret police took my father from me
A woman gave birth under a bridge and the father named the child "Chemia" (Chemicals)
It felt like someone was stabbing my eyes with needles
You saw children crying for their mother, but the mother was blind and just wanted to escape
I was blinded by the chemicals and so couldn't help my son, who was crying for water
The world remained silent about Saddam, so he never used conventional weapons from then on
I shouted, "Don't pray at the mosque, the children are dying"
The Iraqis tricked us: they said we were going to a hospital but took us to prison
Wherever we went, we saw piles of dead bodies
I rebuilt the house so the returning wounded would have somewhere to stay
Nobody thought the Iraqi government would use chemical weapons on its own people
"Why my daughter?" she screamed, then fell face down and died
Kurdish Collaborators
The ‘Jash’ (literally, ‘donkey foals’) were Kurdish paramilitary forces who collaborated with the Iraqi government. They were viewed as traitors but sometimes tried to help their Kurdish compatriots.
I said to the jash, "Either kill me or save me"
There were two types of jash: one was a traitor, the other worked with us
The jash had tears in his eyes: "It's ok. You can curse me but you must take my food"
When the Ba'ath left, I signalled to my brother to stop smothering the baby
