conflict. The unilateral 1974 Autonomy Law pro-
mulgated by Baghdad foundered over oil and Kir-
kuk, which Mustafa Barzani claimed as the
Kurdish autonomous capital and the state refused
to cede. This led to the 1974–5 war between gov-
ernment and Kurdish forces, which was followed
by a policy of forced resettlement of Kurds to other
areas of Iraq, redrawing of administrative bound-
aries, and Arabization, which included “financial
rewards to Arabs who took Kurdish wives, a delib-
erate encouragement of ethnic assimilation...and
the Arabizing of some place names” (McDowall
1996, 340).
It is important to add, however, that Kurds and
non-Kurds have long cooperated in forming politi-
cal platforms. For example, the KDP, formed in
August 1946, changed its name to the Kurdistan
Democratic Party in 1953 so as to include non-
Kurds, while up to 35 percent of the members of the
Iraqi Communist Party, established in 1934, were
Kurdish. More recently, the Kurdistan Front in
1985 was formed of the five major parties, Kurdish
and non-Kurdish, including the Assyrian Demo-
cratic Movement, reflecting the fact that Iraqi
Kurdistan comprises a number of groups, most
notably Turkmens and Assyrians.
Things changed with 1988 and the notorious
Anfàl operations, which killed approximately be-
tween 150 and 200 thousand villagers in Kur-
distan. Some elderly and women and children
survivors were sent to a concentration camp in
southwest Iraq, and most women where taken to a
camp near Kirkuk where thousands died. In several
of the Anfàl operations men were singled out for
execution, while in southern Kurdistan women and
children were also executed. The post 1990–1 Gulf
War period has seen the designation of northern
Iraq as a safe haven, and no-fly zone, with a high
degree of self-determination in politics and econ-
omy. At the same time, the region saw the growth
of extremist Islamist movements such as Anßàr al-
Islàm which, among other things, have tried to
impose the veiling of women’s faces and bodies and
the banning of girls’ education and women’s work
outside the home. As this volume goes to press, the
final status of this region, and indeed of Iraq itself,
is yet to be determined. Whatever the outcome, it
will have a momentous impact on Kurdish politics
and populations in neighboring countries, espe-
cially Turkey.
The gender dimensions of these political vagaries
obviously extend beyond the mention of women as
victims of violence and ethnic cleansing. While cau-
tioning against exaggeration, several authors em-
iraq, jordan, lebanon, syria 575phasize the important role of women in Kurdish
politics and public life, including activism, partici-
pation in elections, women’s publications, and
the formation of women’s organizations within the
main Kurdish parties. In the 1992 elections in the
Kurdish autonomous zone, six women were elected
to parliament out of 105 seats. These female
deputies and women activists lobbied (albeit unsuc-
cessfully) for legal reform and the rescinding of the
personal status and penal laws of the Iraqi govern-
ment that discriminated against women. Women
also organized a 200 kilometer peace march to
protest against the war between the two major par-
ties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the
KDP, in 1994.
In spite of this progress, the general consensus of
most feminist authors is that national liberation has
overshadowed women’s emancipation. Still, nation-
alist and popular discourses promote a representa-
tion of Kurdish women as traditionally enjoying
high status, relative freedom, and equality as com-
pared to women in Arab, Turkish, and Persian soci-
eties. In a familiar twist, these same images are
deployed by outsiders to accuse Kurdish women of
promiscuity especially in the context of the reli-
gious practices of heterodox groups. Historical
studies reveal that Kurdish women played leading
roles in religious lodges and movements as well
as in political and military leadership. There are
several accounts of Kurdish women leading tribal
groupings and confederations, usually after the
death of their husbands, and in some cases of their
fathers. The participation of women in the military
continues today in Kurdistan, as nearly all Kurdish
political parties (except the Islamist ones) include
guerrilla women fighters in their militias.Bibliography
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