Classification & Symbolization
In the Kurdistan Genocide the classifications were Arabs and Kurds, where Kurds were considered the lesser of the two. Symbolization is how one distinguishes the classifications. The indigenous people of the Kurdistan region (which was in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria) are known as Kurds. The Kurds had established their own culture which included a different language and different traditional Kurdish clothing. And if it still wasn’t clear whether or not they were a Kurd, they carried identification cards with them
Dehumanization
The victims are seen as nothing more than animals or insects, they are no longer human. As if they were cattle, the Kurds were forced to leave their homes in northern Iraq and move to less fertile areas in the south. Once they became somewhat situated, the organization of genocide began.
Organization
The Anfal campaign was established, and the Baath regime was committed to carrying out the Anfal operations, which was to destroy the Kurds.
Polarization
Polarization was done by extreme hate groups or leaders, such as Saddam Hussein. He claimed that the Kurds were saboteurs because they had sided with Iran during the Iran-Iraq wars. In 1993 he stated that the Kurdish men had "betrayed the country and they betrayed the covenant, and we meted out a stern punishment to them, and they went to hell"
Identification
The Baath regime bulldozed the houses of Kurds, who were then captured and sent to detention camps or concentration camps. Upon arriving at the camps, the people were divided by genders in what became known as a gendercide. The healthier and stronger teenage boys and men were targeted in this separation
Extermination
Many Kurdish villages, particularly the town of Halabja, were bombed with chemicals weapons (including mustard gas and the nerve agent GB, or Sarin) wiping out approximately 4,000 villages. That is 90% of the Kurdistan villages. This is something that set Saddam Hussein’s killings apart from other genocides, this was“ the first time in history a government has used chemical weapons against its own citizens who are not at the battlefront”
Denial
The Iraqi government has been trying to hide all evidence of the Kurdistan genocide. According to the Kurdistan News “a company from Denmark which was digging wells for the Iraqi government found mass graves in the region. When they informed the Iraqi authority about their findings they were told that those bodies belonged to ancient times. The Iraqi authority cancelled the contract with the Denmark Company and expelled them from Iraq.”
In the Kurdistan Genocide the classifications were Arabs and Kurds, where Kurds were considered the lesser of the two. Symbolization is how one distinguishes the classifications. The indigenous people of the Kurdistan region (which was in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria) are known as Kurds. The Kurds had established their own culture which included a different language and different traditional Kurdish clothing. And if it still wasn’t clear whether or not they were a Kurd, they carried identification cards with them
Dehumanization
The victims are seen as nothing more than animals or insects, they are no longer human. As if they were cattle, the Kurds were forced to leave their homes in northern Iraq and move to less fertile areas in the south. Once they became somewhat situated, the organization of genocide began.
Organization
The Anfal campaign was established, and the Baath regime was committed to carrying out the Anfal operations, which was to destroy the Kurds.
Polarization
Polarization was done by extreme hate groups or leaders, such as Saddam Hussein. He claimed that the Kurds were saboteurs because they had sided with Iran during the Iran-Iraq wars. In 1993 he stated that the Kurdish men had "betrayed the country and they betrayed the covenant, and we meted out a stern punishment to them, and they went to hell"
Identification
The Baath regime bulldozed the houses of Kurds, who were then captured and sent to detention camps or concentration camps. Upon arriving at the camps, the people were divided by genders in what became known as a gendercide. The healthier and stronger teenage boys and men were targeted in this separation
Extermination
Many Kurdish villages, particularly the town of Halabja, were bombed with chemicals weapons (including mustard gas and the nerve agent GB, or Sarin) wiping out approximately 4,000 villages. That is 90% of the Kurdistan villages. This is something that set Saddam Hussein’s killings apart from other genocides, this was“ the first time in history a government has used chemical weapons against its own citizens who are not at the battlefront”
Denial
The Iraqi government has been trying to hide all evidence of the Kurdistan genocide. According to the Kurdistan News “a company from Denmark which was digging wells for the Iraqi government found mass graves in the region. When they informed the Iraqi authority about their findings they were told that those bodies belonged to ancient times. The Iraqi authority cancelled the contract with the Denmark Company and expelled them from Iraq.”