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Keeping history safe: visiting Kurdish delegation receives secret police documents from human rights archive

An important page in history was turned yesterday on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, as Chancellor DiStefano officially handed over an electronic copy of important documents from the university’s human rights archive to a delegation of Kurdish officials.

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While on campus, the four delegates also delivered an address to the public on Monday evening titled “The Future of the Kurds and Iraq: Confronting the Threat of ISIS.”

The delegation also spoke to three CU-Boulder classes about the future of the Kurds and Iraq and dealing with the threat posed by ISIS. Their presence on campus provided a unique opportunity for CU-Boulder students to hear firsthand from those who are transforming the Middle East and the nation of Iraq, and confronting the threats to democracy and the rule of law.

The documents, captured by Kurdish rebels in 1991 but removed from Iraq for safekeeping and analysis, are known as the Captured Iraqi Secret Police Files. They contain evidence from 1960 to 1991 about Iraq’s military operations, use of chemical weapons and genocidal campaign against the Kurdish minority population. The documents will be taken to the Zheen Archive Center in Sulaimaniyah, located in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Members of the delegation included Woshiar Rasul Mohammed Amin, adviser to the Sulaimaniyah governor and former member of the Sulaimaniyah Provincial Council; Professor Ferdinand Hennerbichler, faculty of languages and humanities at the University of Sulaimaniyah and a former Austrian diplomat; Mohammed Fatah Mohammed, member of the General Directorate for Culture, Sport and Youth of the Sulaimaniyah Governorate; and Ako M. Wahbi, international board member of the Zheen Archive Center, where the repatriated files will be housed. Former Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government Barham Salih joined the ceremony via Skype.

Addressing the delegation, Chancellor Distefano shared, “we are inspired by your courage and your hard work, and you do great honor to the university and to the future of our students by sharing those experiences with us.” The chancellor, as well as all members of the delegation, expressed their appreciation to Curator Bruce Montgomery faculty for effectively managing this archive while it has been at CU-Boulder.

Asked about the significance of the files to the Kurdish people, professor Hennerbichler said, “We want to make a better future by helping our people come to terms with their own history and reconcile their past.” Hennerbichler compared the situation to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, which he acknowledged was very painful for the South African people to participate in, but which he claimed was a critical step on that nation’s path to democracy.

“As far as the files are concerned, if we do not manage to contribute to the reconciliation of this war torn society, then ISIL will win.”

Ako M. Wahbi, from the Zheen Archive Center where the repatriated files will be housed, expressed his gratitude to CU-Boulder for their efforts in maintaining and managing the documents. Wahbi explained, “Most of the Kurdish history is oral. What you saved, maintained, scanned, put in a sophisticated database, we can put that to use in understanding our history. I am very thankful, and on behalf of the Zheen center, I want to thank you for your valuable contribution to our history.”

Addressing the group via Skype, former Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government Barham Salih expressed his appreciation to the university.

“We appreciate the government, the military and the people of the United States, but today we are here to honor the work of researchers and academics who helped keep Kurdish history safe. We are now sending it back to Kurdistan so that our researchers can do their own work, allowing our people to move on from our painful past and create a better future in this part of the world.”

Photo: Ako M. Wahbi, international board member of the Zheen Archive Center, receives the digital copy of the Captured Iraqi Secret Police Files from Chancellor Philip DiStefano. Courtesy of Eric Harbeson, CU Libraries.