Iraq: Defeat And Flight

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Turkey's problem is that it already has 7 million to 14.5 million Kurds on its territory. For a decade, Turkey has been trying to suppress Kurdish agitation for autonomy in its eastern provinces. Ankara believes even an autonomous Kurdish region in the area would seduce Turkish Kurds into sedition and secession. Many Turkish military men argue that Saddam is using the refugees to take revenge on Turkey for standing with the coalition. "If Saddam wanted to annihilate these people, he could have done it easily," a Turkish officer allegedly said. "He has not done it. He is pushing them toward us." Though he remained unspecific, Ozal has said he would not object to allied action. Said he: "The most important thing is to stop the aggression by Saddam Hussein. If pressure is put on him and the necessary measures are taken, then I think this can be solved like Kuwait."

Some Western analysts also believe that Saddam is engaging in a kind of demographic sabotage. "The refugees are being buzzed and shot at by gunships from behind," said a British diplomat, "clearly with intent to force them toward the borders." Kurdish leader Kirkuki agreed: "The Iraqis are continuing to herd us to these rocky cemeteries in order to rid themselves of the Kurdish problem once and for all."

Caught between a furious army and a closed border, the Kurds are forced to cling to their cold, granite friends. Supplies must traverse precipitous land routes to reach them, hampered in part by the dilapidation of the two bridges in the area of the Turkish border. Ankara, however, does not appear to be in any hurry to come in with repairs.

With a straight face, Baghdad has denied that it is attacking innocent civilians and has cynically claimed that it was only taking "proper action against those few who decided to take the law into their hands and have attacked the state." While Iraqi troops have been indiscriminately blasting through the south and north, Baghdad Radio has been calling on the refugees to "return home and enjoy the victory and security that is everyone's." No one has anything to fear, the radio has insisted, "except those who committed crimes of killing, burning and stealing or who took up weapons in the face of the government." Exhausted by flight, a few thousand Kurds reportedly took up the offer and returned to Sulaymaniyah late last week.

Most, however, continued to the hills. Somewhere between Turkey and Iraq, the mountains are providing shelter for farmer-poet Mohammed Said and his wife and children. A few weeks ago, during the brief brush with freedom, he had allowed a display of ethnic pride: "I am the rose of Eden, I am the flame that lights the Kurdish darkness, I am the offspring of the Mittani, the Kassites, the Hurrians and the Medes. I am cousin to Alexander the Great, and the juice of the pomegranate drips from my lips like wine." Finally, he said, the suffering of his people was over. "We could not speak our language or play our music for fear of death. Now all this has changed."

It has not. Whether in Iraq or Turkey, Syria or Iran, the Kurds are destined to remain an orphan nation.