1991: Kurdish Uprising and Establishment of the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq:
The Gulf War (1990–1991) created the conditions for a Kurdish uprising in Iraq, opening a brief but pivotal window for Kurdish self-determination. The conflict began when Saddam Hussein’s army invaded Kuwait in 1990, seizing its oil fields and plundering the country. In response, a coalition of Allied forces led by U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf launched a massive land and air campaign that devastated the Iraqi army. While the stated U.S. objective was simply to liberate Kuwait, a nation with close ties to Washington and favorable oil trade agreements, the broader goals remained unclear. In the aftermath, President George H.W. Bush publicly urged the people of Iraq to rise up against Saddam Hussein and “take matters into their own hands,” words that the Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south interpreted as a promise of support.
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Emboldened by this call, Kurdish forces in the north and Shiite fighters in the south rose against Baghdad’s weakened army. The Kurds swiftly liberated nearly all of northern Iraq, including the historically Kurdish and oil-rich city of Kirkuk, while the Shiites achieved similar victories in the south. However, these gains were short-lived. Much of Saddam’s heavy weaponry, including tanks and helicopter gunships, had survived the Allied bombardments, and the Iraqi military used them to brutally suppress both uprisings. In Kurdistan, the crackdown triggered an immense humanitarian crisis. Millions of Kurds fled on foot into the freezing mountains along the borders of Turkey and Iran. Tens of thousands perished from exposure and hunger, while hundreds of thousands more languished in makeshift refugee camps. Their Turkish hosts were often unwelcoming and provided few basic resources for survival.
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The scale of the disaster, broadcast across international media, exposed the consequences of U.S. inaction after Bush’s call to revolt. Acknowledging the crisis, although quietly, U.S. officials, including Secretary of State James Baker and Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, visited the border regions. Upon their return, they directed the establishment of no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq, restricting Saddam’s use of airpower and allowing displaced populations to return. Slowly, the Kurds rebuilt their lives, and by 1994 they held democratic elections that established a self-governing body. This marked the foundation of a semi-autonomous Kurdish region within Iraq, built in the shadow of the Ba’athist regime but laying the groundwork for a new political era in Kurdish history.
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