August 31 Global Reactions

PUKMEDIA

Photo from August 31 betrayal.

For the safety of the residents of the Kurdistan Region, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 688 in 1991, establishing a peace zone for the Kurds and forbidding the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime from entering or bombing the region. However, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) violated the resolution by bringing the Iraqi army back to Erbil. The betrayal destroyed a peaceful area for Kurds, prompting a global response.

August 31, 1996, was a tragic day in Kurdish history and a serious blow to our people's liberation movement after less than six years of experiencing governance and freedom. It occurred in the heart of the Kurdish capital. The betrayal sparked a national and international outcry, prompting American airstrikes on Kurdistani regions where the Iraqi army was stationed.

The occupation of Erbil was a betrayal because it was more than just a military and security operation to drive out a political force such as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which was the driving force behind the Kurdish uprising and the liberation of Erbil. It was more than just a sad chapter in the long history of the Civil War. The August 31 political, national, and ethnic act was so dishonest and unfair that it severely harmed the legitimacy and morality of the ruling process, as well as the democratic face of our people's liberation movement.

The United States was well aware of the August 31 betrayal, as then-President Bill Clinton stated in a White House speech that despite clear warnings from the United States and the international community, Iraqi forces attacked and occupied the Kurdish-controlled city of Erbil in Iraq with the assistance of a Kurdish group.

Clinton stated that his guards would not have accepted such betrayal if he had committed it.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, then a member of the Senate, stated during a Senate hearing that Saddam Hussein attempted to justify his attack by claiming that they entered Erbil at the request of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the northern Iraqi parties.

He added that Iraq's attack on Erbil, as well as its continued threat to attack other places, is an insult to the content of Resolution 688, as hundreds of innocent Kurdish civilians have been killed. 


PUKMEDIA