The deportations
Background
The modern state of Iraq (see map of Iraq) was created by the Great
Powers in 1924 under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne. Prior to this treaty the area that is
now Iraq had been divided between the Ottoman and Persian Empires. It was inhabited by a variety
of races, including Arabs, Kurds, Persians, Turkmans, Armenians, Assyrians, Afghans and others
from the Indian subcontinent, and creeds, including Moslems - both Sunni and Shia - Christians,
Jews, Sabaeans, Yezidis and Zoroastrians.
Many of these peoples have lived in this region since prehistoric times. Although many of the
(minority) religious and ethnic groups found in Iraq are divided over a number of countries,
members of these groups identify with the area where their families have always lived and feel
loyalty to their own groups within Iraq.
The deportations
From the founding of the State of Iraq in 1924 onwards small numbers of Iranian citizens living in Iraq were deported to Iran whenever there was a political or border dispute between Iraq and Iran. However this trickle of deportations increased in 1963 when the Arab Nationalist/Ba-athist coalition came to power. Although such deportations are never justified, unlike the deportations after 1980, these deportees were given three to six months notice and did not have their identity documents, property and possessions confiscated and members of their families were not detained as hostages.
In 1968 the Ba-athist Party expelled their Nationalist coalition partners and came to sole power. In 1979 Saddam Hussein became President of Iraq and initiated mass deportations, this time of Iraqi citizens, and hostage taking 7 months later.
The mass expulsion of Iraqi citizens to Iran began on 4 April 1980 with the deportation of families in the border towns. A large number of Iraqi families living in the towns bordering Iran were detained in custom and excise warehouses in Khanaqeen until 8 April, when they were driven over the border by the Iraqi army.
The next group to be deported consisted of selected businessmen ( see appendix H, photo1). On 7 April, 870 (of the 1,240 invited) of Iraq's leading business people were lured to a meeting in Baghdad under the pretext of discussing the economic situation. After the meeting the buses, which were supposed to being taking them to meet the Vice-President Taha-al-Jazraway at Al-Khooled Hall, instead took them to the General Intelligence and Secret Service Building. Here they were interrogated individually and all their valuables, papers and documents, including passports, were confiscated. They were then driven under armed guard to an army HQ in Khanaqeen and transferred to military lorries which dumped them close to the Iranian border. The deportees were left in total darkness, without food, water or any possessions other than the clothes they stood up in and without any guides. They were ordered to walk into Iran or be shot. On their arrival in Iran the following morning, the deportees were surrounded by Iranian troops, interrogated and then detained in isolated camps for a few weeks.
During this period they were joined by their families, who had been subsequently deported, as well as the families originally detained on 4 April and other families from the central and southern parts of Iraq. All these families experienced a similar process of detention, interrogation, confiscation of possessions and documents and being abandonned at the border, to that described above.
This was just the start of the mass deportations ( see appendix H, photos 2-7) of Iraqi citizens to Iran. The international Red Cross and Iranian Red crescent estimate that half a million were expelled in the first six months and a further half million in the following years. About half of the deportees were Iraqi citizens of Kurdish origins, particularly Fairly Kurds from in and around Baghdad and Khanaqeen, Kut, Amara and Basra. Many of the others were Iraqi citizens of Arab and Persian ethnic origin. The deportees were by no mean all young and fit. They included the very old
(see appendix H, photos 3 and 8) and very young
(see appendix H, photos 4 and 9), as well as people with physical
(see appendix H, photos 12 and 13) and mental disabilities and hospital patients. Some of the pregnant women died with their babies as a result of being forced to give birth in the open. A number of deportees were killed by land mines during their crossing of the border (See appendix H, photo 11).
Many families were separated : one parent was deported and his or her spouse remained
(see appendix H, photo 10). In some cases young children
(see appendix H, photo 15) or individuals with severe disabilities
(see appendix H, photos 12 and 13) were deported on their own without other family members. There were also cases of individuals being given financial inducements of up to two thousand Iraqi dinars (about one year’s wage at that time) to divorce their deported spouses. Male civil servants and soldiers were offered up to four thousand dinars to renounce their wives, who were being deported as Iranians.
About a quarter of the deportees have now left Iran to seek asylum, mainly in Europe and Middle Eastern countries. The majority of the remainder only stayed in refugee camps for a brief period and are now settled in towns and cities scattered throughout Iran. However their living conditions are very bad, with the majority at or below the poverty line. They entered Iran with nothing, since all their property, possessions and valuables were confiscated by the Iraqi authorities when they were deported. Unfortunately the Iranian Government has not granted them refugee status and for a long time gave them no official identity or travel documents to replace those confiscated by the Iraqi authorities. Recently they received a 'green card' (see appendix H, photo 15) which names the holder as an 'Iraqi citizen' and which may not be used in official dealings. Since these deportees have not received work permits and are not allowed to engage in trade or own property, they are reduced to living on charity or casual labour. Many of these deportees have applied for asylum in Europe through UN High Commission for Refugees, whereas the older deportees would very much like to be able to return to Iraq, as long as their relatives held hostage are released and their rights and belongings restored.
If anything the conditions of those still living in refugee camps in Baneh, Saggez, Karmenshah Zawah (see appendix H, photo 14), Jahram and south-west Iran are even worse.