Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry Of Higher Education and Scientific Research University Of Sulimany

The West Attitude Towards The Iraki Kurdistan Between March 1991- September 1998

( A Historical Political Study) A Thesis Submitted By HIWA MINA MAHMUD To The Council of College of Humanity/History Department- University Of Sulimany In Partial Fulfillment Of PHD Degree in Modern And Contemporary History.

Supervised By Dr.Dler Ahmed Hamad

2712K 2012 A.D

Abstract
Since the early 1960s and more especially as the Baathist Regime took over in 1968, Iraqi Kurdistan was subjected to campaigns of destruction and Arabization. In the 1980s, the Regime in Baghdad used chemical weapons and leveled the entire Kurdish villages to the ground. The notorious Anfal Operations of 1988 have weakened the Iraqi Kurdish political and armed movement, which was almost about to vanish. But, when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August. 1990 and attached it to Iraq, States of the territory and Western Countries felt the risk of this Regime and rejected this reality. In January. 1991, US allies pushed Saddams Regime out of Kuwait and imposed sanctions on it. The war was over. Iraqi Kurds took the opportunity and launched an uprising against the Regime. Within a short period of time, all of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, including Kirkuk City, was liberated. But that was not acceptable by Saddam. He mobilized what remained from his Army and attacked the Kurdistan Region. Peoples celebration of victory was not over yet when the Iraqi Army attacked Kurdistan, threatening to use chemical weapons. Over two million Kurds fled to the mountains on the Iranian and Turkish borders. The tragic scenes of women and children, who were struggling for survival under the rain and snow, were broadcasted in a daily manner in the Western media entering into every single European house. These scenes motivated the international public opinion to put pressure over their governments and political authorities, calling upon them to stop this humanitarian tragedy. Meanwhile, Turkey did not allow hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Kurds to cross the border into the Turkish soils for fear of being mixed with Turkish Kurds and make troubles. This is why the Turkish president at that time, Ozal, formally requested that the UN Security Council to rehabilitate those refugees and send them back to their homeland, and creating a safe heaven and no-fly zone in the north of
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Iraq. France and the UK supported this Turkish proposal. The UN Security Council issued decree No. (688), which indicated, the refugees should go back home to the North of Iraq, and the territory should be kept safe from the attacks of Saddam and neighboring countries. For this purpose, the Coalition troops arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan and hundreds of humanitarian Organizations, which were funded by the West. arrived in Kurdistan, as well. At the beginning, Saddam attempted to negotiate with the Kurdish Front, but the negotiations failed. As Saddam seen that the Coalition Troops and Kurdish Peshmerga Forces are located in the Northern part of Iraq, he decided to withdraw all administrations from Sulaimaniya, Erbil and Duhok provinces, and to make some sort of pressure over the Kurds, he imposed an economical embargo over the Region. The Kurds decided to hold organize a parliamentary election to fill this administrative gap and to organize the life of millions of Kurds. The elections were held in May 1992 and a Kurdish Government cabinet was formed on July of the same year. The Kurdish Parliament and Government were recognized by neither neighboring Countries nor Western Countries, and had no legal international existence. But the de facto was treating it as a government; i.e., creators of the government (PUK) and (KDP) had their representatives in Ankara, Tehran, and many countries of the world. Besides, all humanitarian Organizations were cooperating and dealing with the Kurdish Regional Government. Meanwhile, the opposition of neighboring countries and the old hostility between the PUK and KDP led to four years of infighting in Kurdistan (1994 1998). In October. 1998, Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani signed a reconciliation agreement (known as the Washington Agreement) sponsored by Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State. Henceforth, a new ear, known as the twoadministration era, came to appearance. Some of the humanitarian Organizations returned to Kurdistan. The Region somehow revived after receiving (%13) of the income of the (Oil for Food Program).

In October. 1998, the American Administration decided to overthrow the Iraqi Regime. For this purpose it started to organize and mobilize the Iraqi opposition. The Kurds, who had their own Government, Parliament, and free land, played a crucial role in the Iraqi Opposition. When the US decided to attack Baghdad in 2003, the Iraqi Kurds took the Americans side and they were the sole friend of the Americans in Iraq and the area. The Kurds actively contributed into the new Iraq during the era of Colition Provisional Authority (CPA) (??) and also during the election of the Government in Baghdad. Kurds played their role as Kurds, and an important part of the Iraqi structure, and also as an Iraqi individual.