- Title: IRAQ: IRAQI KURDS CONTINUE TO FLEE CITY OF KIRKUK
- Date: 16th March 2003
- Summary: (W7) CHAMCHAMAL, NORTHERN IRAQ (MARCH 14,2003) (REUTERS) 1. SLV IRAQ-KURDISTAN BORDER CHECKPOINT; SLV CARS ARRIVING AT CHECKPOINT AND BEING CHECKED; SCU WOMAN WITH CHILDREN INSIDE CAR; MV MEN GETTING OUT OF CAR NEAR CHECKPOINT (3 SHOTS) 0.24 2. SLV MEN QUEUING FOR REGISTRATION (2 SHOTS) 0.41 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) MAN SHOT FROM BEHIND FOR SAFETY REASONS SAYING "The Iraqi government and security forces have been carrying out cleansing operations in Kirkuk in the last couple of days in the Kurdish quarter of the city. They surround houses, check documents and arrest people. And we are afraid that it will happen again." 1.06 4. SCU TELEVISION SCREEN 1.10 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) FIRST UNIDENTIFIED YOUNG MAN (SHOT FROM BEHIND) SAYING "In the area of Raheemawa the security forces have arrested more than one hundred people, mostly young men." 1.24 6. LV IRAQI GOVERNMENT CHECKPOINT IN THE DISTANCE 1.31 7. SLV VEHICLES NEAR THE KURDISH CHECKPOINT; SLV WOMAN GETTING OUT OF THE CAR; MV YOUNG MAN IN THE CAR; SLV MORE MEN NEAR CHECKPOINT (4 SHOTS) 2.01 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Kurdish) SECOND UNIDENTIFIED MAN (SHOT FROM BEHIND) SAYING "People are afraid that something dangerous will happen again they will be arrested or even killed. This already happened to us before when many young men were exterminated. That's why we are afraid that it could happen again and we're trying to escape in great numbers." 2.15 9. SLV CAR WITH CHILDREN PASSING CHECKPOINT; SLV TAXI NEAR CHECKPOINT (2 SHOTS) 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 31st March 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CHAMCHAMAL, NORTHERN IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVA6A1H60YPEWF88N02W7WS5NBU8
- Story Text: Iraqi Kurds continue to flee the city of Kirkuk in
northern Iraq in great numbers as the possibility of a
U.S.-led war to oust President Saddam Hussein looms closer.
Several hundred Kurdish refugees, mostly men, were queuing
at the Chamchamal checkpoint at the Kurdish-Iraqi border on
Friday (March 14, 2003) fleeing Iraqi territory. They said they
feared possible persecution on the part of the Iraqi authorities.
Most of the refugees come from Kirkuk, a city 30 kilometres
from the checkpoint and south-east of the city Suleymaniyah
which is controlled by PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan).
At the Chamchamal border crossing between Iraqi-controlled
territory and the Kurdish-run zone, many refugees were unsure
where to go after leaving their homes at short notice.
"The Iraqi government and security forces have been
carrying out cleansing operation in the Kurdish quarter of
Kirkuk. They surround house, check document and arrest people.
And we are afraid that it will happen again," said one young
man who was afraid to show his face to the camera.
Refugees claim that Iraqi officials have been trying to
force ethnic Kurds to leave Kirkuk.
"People are afraid that something dangerous will happen
again they will be arrested or even killed," said another man,
who refused to be identified and didn't want his face shown.
"This already happened to us before when many young men
were exterminated. That's why we are afraid that it could
happen again and we're trying to escape in great numbers."
Officials of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which governs
the Kurdish-administered provinces of Arbil and Dohuk, told
Reuters that 150 Kirkuk Kurds had been expelled and sent to
the Kurdish zone on Thursday (March 13), with another 120
following on Friday.
Iraq has long been wary of its Kurds, who are in a
majority in the north, Kirkuk is a historically Kurdish city
and the government used chemical weapons against them in
March 1988. They also tried to forcefully displace them from
that land by settling ethnic Arabs on that territory instead.
Around 120.000 non-Arabs and Kurds had to leave because of
that cleansing policy.
The Kurdish-run area occupies three northern Iraqi
provinces and was set up in 1991. Then Saddam brutally put
down a Kurdish uprising at the end of the Gulf War. It has
since been effectively independent of Baghdad, protected by a
U.S. and British-patrolled no-fly zone.
Kirkuk is the oil hub of northern Iraq, producing 800,000
barrels per day of Iraq's total exports of 1.7 million barrels
per day under a U.N.-run "oil for food" programme delivering
emergency supplies during a U.N. sanctions regime.
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