DECONSTRUCTING GENOCIDE
Professor Gregory Stanton
Kurdish Globe
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May 22 2008
Iraq
An academic search for information on the Anfalization of Kurds
The president of Genocide Watch warns Kurds to be watchful; otherwise,
they may face another genocide.
American Professor Gregory Stanton stated that genocide, which is
defined in international law in the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide, means acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.
"According to the definition of genocide, ‘Anfal’ is classified as
genocide, because the Baath Regime committed the Anfal Campaign with
the intent to destroy Kurdish ethnicity; it killed and buried alive
180, 000 Kurdish people in the campaign in 1988," remarked Stanton.
The professor recently arrived in Kurdistan Region to gather
information and evidence about the Anfalization of Kurds, which he
will publish in a book on worldwide genocidal crimes. During his stay
here, he hopes to discuss plans on holding an international conference
on the Anfal genocide in Europe. While in Erbil city, he also led an
academic seminar on genocide at the College of Engineering, attended
by university teachers and ministers.
He explained the eight stages of genocide. The first is classification,
where a regime distinguishes people into "us and them" by ethnicity,
race, religion, or nationality; the second stage is symbolism, where
names or other symbols are given to the classifications, combined
with symbols of hatred; the third is dehumanization, where one group
denies the humanity of other group; the fourth is organization, as
genocide is always organized, usually by a state, using a state army
or militias; fifth is polarization, where extremists drive groups
apart; the sixth is preparation, where victims are identified and
separated because of their ethnicity or religion; the seventh stage,
extermination, begins and quickly becomes the mass killing legally
called "genocide"; and the final stage is denial.
He said that denial defines the current stage of Iraqi Kurds, mainly
due to a number of Arab countries that have denied the Anfal Campaign
as genocide. It is very important for Kurds, therefore, to hold an
international conference about Anfal so that international communities
are informed about what occurred in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Before the Baath Regime embarked upon the Anfal Campaign against
Kurds, Kurdish people in Iraq were considered third-class citizens
after Sunni and Shiite Arabs. Baath Party members called Kurds
"mountain barbarians."
"Genocide cannot happen without a massive organization and may include
international cooperation; in Iraq, for instance, some U.S. and German
companies cooperated with Saddam by selling weapons, including chemical
weapons," said Professor Stanton. "These companies should be brought to
justice and I strongly suggest that Kurds collect documents regarding
the companies that sold weapons to Saddam," he further added.
Stanton said he feels shame that the U.S. allied itself with Hussein
when he committed genocide against Kurds, and the U.S. still has
alliances with some countries that it shouldn’t align itself with,
he said.
In a meeting with Stanton, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani
said it is imperative to identify all those companies that supplied
the former regime with chemical weapons and those victims of the
chemical weapons attacks should be compensated by those companies.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ziryan Osman, Kurdistan Region’s Health Minister,
asked Professor Stanton why Kurds should only try to bring the
companies to justice and not the governments of the countries
from which those companies operated, because Kurds are sure these
companies did not sell weapons to Saddam without the permission of
the governments. Responding to Dr. Osman’s question, Stanton said
he used to work for the U.S. State Department, and since he believes
the policy of the U.S. State Department isn’t based on a human rights
policy, he resigned from his post.
Stanton cautioned Kurds that they might face another genocide if they
are not vigilant.
"I am afraid that Turkey could carry out genocide against Kurds since
in its past it has committed genocidal crimes against Armenians,
which they are denying. Also, Turkey denies the existence of Kurds in
Turkey," said Stanton. He believes some Arab countries, such as those
that deny the Anfal Campaign and the Holocaust, are also capable of
committing further genocide against the Kurds.
Stanton mentioned his disappointment in Hussein’s expedited execution,
because it prohibited Hussein from being tried for all of his crimes
against humanity. He also called on the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)
to stop using violence in order to gain its objectives. "The PKK
should use peaceful means; otherwise, I believe resorting violence
will harm the Kurds," remarked the professor.
Dr. Osman told Stanton that what Saddam did against the people of
Kurdistan Region was not just a crime against humanity or genocide. "It
was a crime against a small part of earth; it was bigger than genocide,
because when Saddam’s regime attacked Kurdistan with chemical weapons,
it not only killed humans, but also killed and destroyed animals,
birds, trees, and water springs." Stanton nodded and said, "It is true;
it was bigger than genocide; we call this crime "ecocide."
Iraqi Parliament commemorated Anfal on April 14, and officially
recognized Anfal as genocide.