Shafaq News / Over the past decades, Iraqis were subjected to overwhelming oppression, as some groups and segments of society are still struggling to lift this burden or try to look forward to a brighter future.

What happened to the Feyli Kurds is a tragic example of what the former regime did in the era of Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr and Saddam Hussein; a minority that had been subjected to genocide attempt, and so o far the efforts redress it are next to nothing.

Although some 18 years have passed since the end of Saddam's era which was preceded by long years of blood and displacement, the specter of injustice still haunts the Feyli Kurds, as they are still deprived of the rights and the benefits the former regimen looted.

Against this sobering reality, many perplexing -yet legitimate- questions resurface about the purpose of the policy of neglect pursued by successive Iraqi governments since after 2003 against the Feyli Kurds; whom their properties were, legal rights were, nationality and funds were confiscated and their families went missing or exterminated by the force of law..and arms!

Feylis were even denied their very basic rights. Many Iraqis, during the Iraqi-Iranian war, were forced to divorce their Feyli wife spouses. Abolition and oppression went further to prevent the Feyli Kurds from completing their postgraduate studies.

Basra is perhaps one of those scenes that reflect the painful reality of the Feyli Kurds since Saddam Hussein's regime cracked them down in the context of its conflict with Iran. Even though this minority is rooted in Iraq throughout history...Its rights are still ignored.

Mahdi Al-Tamimi, director of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Basra, told Shafaq News agency, “The Feyli Kurds are an important Iraqi segment that found itself a victim of the former dictator for descending from Iranian origins”.

"by reading history, we see that Feyli Kurds have lived in this country for thousands of years, particularly in the border areas with Iran, and are –therefore- Iraqi citizens of the indigenous inhabitants who contributed to the construction of Iraq”, Al- Tamimi clarified.

Al-Tamimi confirmed that “OHCHR considers what happened to this segment as “genocide” approved at the United Nations”.

Facts from Basra's recent history, and the chronicles of survivors and grandchildren, tell us that the Feyli Kurds have been subjected to unprecedented acts of intimidation, displacement, arrest, and confiscation of property and money, many of which were "gifted" to Ba’ath party officials and the same security services that contributed to oppression over this Iraqi minority.

Salam Al-Feyli, a representative of the Feyli Kurds in Basra told Shafaq News agency that the province houses about 15,000 Feyli Kurds; living peacefully and harmoniously in Basra, one of Iraq’s richest provinces. Still, living with the injustice sought during Saddam's regime, including the confiscation of their vast land and distributing it over some of the city's residents.

Salam Al-Feyli said that goes further, as the government had not provided any benefits to this segment, "The Feyli's are deprived of the representation in the local government of Basra".

In a parallel context, he indicated that some citizens have taken possession of his house and confirmed that the same happened to thousands of residential units that the current residents refuse to leave.

The law, thus, does not recognize the rights of the Feyli Kurds as Iraqi citizens. Salam Al-Feyli, through Shafaq News Agency, urged the supreme religious reference, Ali Al-Sistani, the leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada Al-Sadr, Ammar Al-Hakim, the speaker of the council of Representatives and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to stand with this segment to guarantee their rights in Iraq and Basra in particular; considering that this segment is part of Iraq and has not received its most basic rights, which is their land taken from them during the years of Ba’athist injustice.

According to Al-Tamimi, the Feyli Kurds were subjects of sequential genocide that wasted more than 20,000 martyrs; scattered throughout the Iraqi territory from northern Iraq to Basra.

"The number of Feyli Kurds exceeds three million and they have fallen under the oppression of the Ba’athist regime by displacing them and stripping the citizenship from them", said Najah Al-Saadi, an independent political analyst in Basra. He called for the need to take a stand to support this Iraqi segment, including the Iraqi President, by paying attention to their cause as Iraqi citizens, which is also the duty of the Council of Representatives.

On the 40th anniversary of the genocide and the displacement inflicted on them, Kurdistan’s President, Nechirvan Barzani said, "The process of deporting and displacing hundreds of thousands of Feyli Kurds and the absence of tens of thousands of others, the confiscation of their money and property and withdrawing of their citizenship, only because they supported the revolution and the rights of their people”. Adding, “On this anniversary, and as the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council has considered this Ba’athist crime as genocide, we renew our demand to the Iraqi government to compensate the Feyli Kurds and to pursue its legal and moral duties towards them and return their confiscated citizenship and property”.