Remembering President Mam Jalal’s Historical Pleading

PUKMEDIA

Late President Mam Jalal during his pleading.

Twenty-one years ago today, and in his historic speech during a meeting of the Governing Council of Iraq, late President Jalal Talabani, Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and a member of the governing body of the Governing Council - the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004-, called for the return of the Kurds and Turkmen who were expelled by Saddam Hussein's dictator regime from the city of Kirkuk and hold a referendum to determine its identity.

President Talabani proved through documents and maps that the city of Kirkuk is a Kurdish city and is part of the Kurdistan Region, but he stressed nevertheless that he does not demand its annexation to the Kurdistan Region right away, but in a way that preserves the brotherhood between its components and does justice to history and the legitimate rights of the Kurds.

Talabani stressed the need to establish the rights of the people of Kurdistan in the state administration law that the council was then discussing, beginning by presenting the facts about the existence of a people in the name of the people of Kurdistan divided into four countries, namely Türkiye, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, and he said that the Kurdish people were annexed to the Iraqi state in 1925 by a decision from the League of Nations and quoted Edmonds, Britain’s representative in the League of Nations committee to look into the future of the northern state of Mosul at the time, as saying, “Southern Kurdistan was attached to Iraq on several conditions, including that the administrators in this Kurdish region be Kurds, and that the Kurdish language is an official language, and that the status of Kurdistan remains as it is."

Mam Jalal pointed out that Edmonds worked to erase the Kurdish character from the Kirkuk district, describing it as a flagrant violation of the pledges made to the League of Nations by Iraq and Britain.

He added that the pledges made to the Kurdish people were not implemented, but were violated by the Iraqi government and Britain, and the matter reached ethnic cleansing and the expelling of the Kurds and Turkmen from the Kirkuk and the settlement of Arabs in their place during the time of Saddam Hussein, and he stressed the rights of Turkmen and Kurds to return them to the homes of their fathers and grandfathers, and the areas from which they were expelled.

In another part of his speech, Talabani read part of the declaration of the League of Nations committee on the borders of Iraq, which says that the Iraqi borders never crossed Mount Hamrin, and the borders of the Kurdistan begin from Mount Hamrin despite the presence of some Turkmen in their cities, and then Mam Jalal referred to the book "The Mosul Question", which stresses that Kurdistan is not part of Iraq or of Anatolia.

He also referred to the Ottoman "Dictionary of Flags" book and read the paragraph that says: "Three-quarters of Kirkuk are Kurds," and President Talabani put a large historical map of the Ottoman authorities on the table of the Governing Council, in which the location of Kirkuk was determined within the borders of Kurdistan in this map, and Talabani said: "We are not demanding for the annexation of Kirkuk to Iraqi Kurdistan right away, but we demand the return of the expelled Kurds and Turkmen to their original places in Kirkuk and the return of the Arabs who were settled by the graved regime in Kirkuk to their places in central and southern Iraq, after which a referendum will be held between the people of Kirkuk from the Kurds, Turkmen and the original Arabs based on an accurate census conducted to determine the future and fate of Kirkuk."

President Talabani demanded official recognition of the Kurdish language alongside the Arabic language in Iraq and considered this a legitimate right for the Kurds.

We remember that historical pleading by President Mam Jalal every year, as he proved, on February 9, 2004, that the city of Kirkuk is Kurdish at a meeting of members of the Governing Council in Iraq through the presentation of many documents and historical sources that he presented to the Governing Council and world public opinion.

According to observers, so far, no one has been able to prove the opposite of what President Mam Jalal presented in the documents and maps proving that Kirkuk is a Kurdish city.

It is noteworthy that the Hamrin Mountains are a small mountain ridge in northeast Iraq. The westernmost ripple of the greater Zagros mountains, the Hamrin mountains extend from the Diyala Governorate bordering Iran, northwest to the Tigris river, crossing northern Saladin Governorate and southern Kirkuk Governorate.

Facts about Kirkuk and the history of the founding of the Iraqi state

In a press interview about the history of the founding of the Iraqi state, President Mam Jalal said: "I explained to the brothers the members of the Governing Council during my argument that when the Iraqi state was established, Kurdistan was within a state called the "Mosul Vilayet", which was not part of this state that was established in (1920) and when the founding came, the Brits offered a referendum on (King Faisal) and excluded Kurdistan from this poll, which is also mentioned in the book (History of Iraqi Ministries) as follows: “It is required that the Kurdish regions be free to participate in the elections or not, and for this not to affect their final decision towards the government of Iraq and their position therein.”

He added that the Treaty of Sèvres was in effect at the time, which allowed Iraqi Kurdistan to join the autonomous central Kurdistan, according to Articles (62, 63, 64) of the Treaty of Sevres: “The main allied countries will not put any obstacles in the way of the optional accession of the Kurds residing in that part of Kurdistan, which until then were still within the mandate of Mosul, to this independent state. "

President Mam Jalal said: "I explained to the brothers, members of the Governing Council, that in (1922) the Iraqi and British governments agreed to form a government in Kurdistan, and the statement was issued on December 25 (1922). It was popular at that time that this statement was like a Christmas gift to the Kurds. Iraq and the Brits issued a statement declaring their recognition of the right of the Kurds in their country asking them to send representatives to Baghdad to demarcate the borders and agree on customs. This was mentioned in the book (History of Iraqi Ministries) (Part 1, p. 274) as follows:

The Government of Her British Majesty and the Iraqi government together recognize the rights of the Kurds living within the borders of Iraq to establish a Kurdish government within these borders and hope that the Kurds, regardless of their members, will agree as soon as possible on the form that they would like that government to take and on the borders they wish to extend to and they will send their responsible delegates to Baghdad to discuss their economic and political relations in the governments of England and Iraq."

President Mam Jalal explained: "This fact is hidden, but it is clearly documented in this book, as well as in many other books on the history of Iraq."

President Mam Jalal added in that interview: "I told my esteemed colleagues in the Governing Council that 82 years ago, we were given the right by Iraq and the British mandate to form our state and you come after these years and discuss with us about federalism? While you should appreciate our federalism claim after 82 years of the right to independence."

President Mam Jalal said: In all of King Faisal's letters with the high commissioner, this matter was clear. In one of the letters, King Faisal asks the high commissioner about the borders of his kingdom at that time. Churchill, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies, replied to him: “Tell His Majesty the King, we promised him an Arab state, not an empire, and the border of his state is Mount Hamrin, from Hamrin to the north, there is a country called Kurdistan, although there are Turkmen minorities in Kifri, Kirkuk, Erbil, and Altun Kupri, but this country is Kurdistan."

President Mam Jalal added that he explained to the attendees another decision of the League of Nations, which was issued in (1924-1925), which says: "We searched all the geography books and old travelers books, as well as the geography books that were taught in Egypt, and it became clear to us that Iraq did not go beyond Anbar, Tikrit or Mount Hamrin at any time. Sometimes Samarra was part of Anbar, and at times it was part of Tikrit and in the rest was not part of Iraq. As for the kingdom north of these borders, it is called Kurdistan, and that the state of Mosul was never part of Iraq and that these areas are not part of Turkey because between them there are central Kurdistan and Syria."

President Mam Jalal pointed out that the British representative in the League of Nations Committee issued a decision stipulating that one of the conditions is not to prejudice the Kurdish identity of Kirkuk, and he says that if the Kurdish identity of Kirkuk is violated, the agreement under which the mandate of Mosul was attached to Iraq will end.

"I explained this to my colleagues in the Governing Council and said: If you want to break the unity of Iraq, this is what the British envoy said," President Mam Jalal said.



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