Feyli Kurds: Difference between revisions
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'''Feylis |
'''Feylis''' are a group of lur tribes located mainly in Luristan,Kermanshah and Ilam (Iran).<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/feyli--2 FEYLĪ], group of Iranian tribes located mainly in Luristan.</ref> |
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Feyli |
Feyli lurs are a community living in Baghdad and the [[Diyala Governorate|Diyala Province]] of Iraq around [[Khanaqin]] and Mandali, and across the [[Iran]]ian border, mainly in the provinces of [[Luristan]], [[Kermanshah]] and [[Ilam Province|Ilam]]. They number an estimated 6.000.000. people. The Fayli are an important community within the wider [[lurish people|luri]] people. |
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Faylee (Faylee, Faili, or Feli) are integral part of the |
Faylee (Faylee, Faili, or Feli) are, according to some, part of the lurish population in Iraq and an integral part of the lurish nation, though others believe they are much more related to kurds and Persians.{{Citation needed|date=February 2013}} Faylee have themselves shown, over the years, and still show this fact and reality by words and deeds. They speak Feyli, a dialect that belongs to the luri language, which some argue is a dialect of middle Persian. Feyli is spoken particularly on both sides of the border areas between Iraq and Iran .<ref>Faylee Kurds Democratic Union (http://www.faylee.org/english/studies/doc3.php)</ref> |
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The roots of the Feyli go back to the [[Parthia]]n/Pahlawi/Pahlawanid settlements of the 2nd century BC. Archaeological evidence from the [[Ilam Province]] in |
The roots of the Feyli go back to the [[Parthia]]n/Pahlawi/Pahlawanid settlements of the 2nd century BC. Archaeological evidence from the [[Ilam Province]] in Iran indicates that some proportions of Fayli might have been [[Nestorian Christians]] until the 18th century. The conversion to [[Shia]] form of Islam seem to have begun under the [[Safavid]] dynasty (1507–1721) of [[Persia]]/[[Iran]], Faylis today are primarily [[Imami]] [[Shias]] like the [[Persia]]ns, [[Lurs]] and the [[Azeris]], as well as the majority of the Iraqi [[Arabs]]. |
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In modern times the Feylis have been subject to state persecution.<ref>Khesrau Goran ''Kurdistan through your eyes: Volume I'' (Stockholm 1992) P 152: 161.</ref><ref>The Amnesty International Report, pp.220, 1976, see p.34</ref> They are considered as a [[stateless people]], with both [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]] claiming they are citizens of the other country.<ref>''Fear, Flight and Forcible Exile: Refugees in the Middle East'', Amnesty International, 1997. (see p.13)</ref> In the mid 1970s, Iraq expelled around 40,000 Feyli's who had lived for generations near [[Baghdad]] and [[Khanaqin]], alleging that they were Iranian nationals.<ref>[[Robert Freedman (political scientist)|Robert Freedman]], ''The Middle East Enters the Twenty-first Century'', 416 pp., 2002, ISBN 0-8130-3110-9, p.33</ref> |
In modern times the Feylis have been subject to state persecution.<ref>Khesrau Goran ''Kurdistan through your eyes: Volume I'' (Stockholm 1992) P 152: 161.</ref><ref>The Amnesty International Report, pp.220, 1976, see p.34</ref> They are considered as a [[stateless people]], with both [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]] claiming they are citizens of the other country.<ref>''Fear, Flight and Forcible Exile: Refugees in the Middle East'', Amnesty International, 1997. (see p.13)</ref> In the mid 1970s, Iraq expelled around 40,000 Feyli's who had lived for generations near [[Baghdad]] and [[Khanaqin]], alleging that they were Iranian nationals.<ref>[[Robert Freedman (political scientist)|Robert Freedman]], ''The Middle East Enters the Twenty-first Century'', 416 pp., 2002, ISBN 0-8130-3110-9, p.33</ref> |
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in iranica enceclopedia : |
in iranica enceclopedia : |
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'''FEYLĪ''' |
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group of '''Lor''' tribes located mainly in Luristan. |
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FEYLĪ, group of '''Lor''' tribes located mainly in Luristan. During the two centuries in which the whole of Luristan was ruled by hereditary wālīs (descended from Ḥosayn Khan Solvīzī, appointed by Shah ʿAbbās I in 1006/1597-98) all the tribes in the region were called Feylī, but, at the beginning of the 19th century, the situation changed. Moḥammad-ʿAlī Mīrzā, eldest son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār (1212-50/1797-1834) and governor-general of Kermānšāh, seized Pīš-e Kūh (the eastern part of Luristan), leaving to the wālī only Pošt-e Kūh (the western part). Because the name Feylī had been previously associated with the Solvīzī dynasty, it came to denote only those tribes in the Pošt-e Kūh (Eskandar Beg, tr. Savory, II, p. 721; Curzon, Persian Question, I, p. 278; Minorsky, p. 826). |
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There is little reliable information on the Feylī of the Pošt-e Kūh (for the most detailed reports, see Rabino, pp. 37-46; Razmārā, pp. 18-23). The two major Feylī tribes in the region are Kord and Mahakī (for a list of their subdivisions, or tīras, see Layard, pp. 99-100; Razmārā, pp. 21-23; Kayhān, Joḡrāfīā II, pp. 67-71). |
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In the 19th century H. C. Rawlinson (p. 107) estimated the population of Feylī in the Pošt-e Kūh at 12,000 families, A. H. Layard (pp. 99-100) at 10,000 families, George Curzon (Persian Question II, p. 274) at 210,000 individuals, H. L. Rabino (p. 40) at 10,000 families. More recently Henry Field (p. 184) has estimated it at 50,000-60,000 individuals and Masʿūd Kayhān (Joḡrāfīā II, p. 67) at 40,000 individuals. |
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Some of the Feylī of Luristan had supported Karīm Khan Zand (1163-93/1750-79) and accompanied him to Fārs (Oberling, p. 85), where their descendants are still to be found. In 1849 they were estimated at 100 families (Sheil, p. 398). In time these Feylī joined the ʿAmala tribe of the Qašqāʾī confederation; they were mentioned by Ḥasan Fasāʾī in Fārs-nāma (ed. Rastgār, II, p. 313). Since then some Feylī of the ʿAmala tribe have settled in and around Fīrūzābād. In 1956 they numbered approximately fifty individuals (Oberling, p. 86). Others have settled in Shiraz, where they live in the Maḥall-e Feylī. These Feylī were mentioned by Kayhān, who estimated their number at 150 families (Joḡrāfīā II, p. 83), and by Field, whose estimate was 100 families (p. 222). In 1956 they comprised between 800 and 1,000 individuals (Oberling, p. 86). |
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Bibliography: |
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C. A. de Bode, Travels in Luristan and Arabistan II, London, 1845, p. 290. |
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H. Field, Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran, Chicago, 1939. |
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A. H. Layard, “Description of the Province of Khuzistan,” JRGS 16, 1846, pp. 99-100. |
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O. Mann, Die Mundarten der Lur-Stämme im südwestlichen Persien, Berlin, 1910, pp. xxiv-xxv. |
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V. Minorsky, “Lur,” EI2 V, pp. 820-26. |
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P. Oberling, The Turkic Peoples of Southern Iran, New York, 1960. |
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H. L. Rabino, Les tribus du Louristan, Paris, 1916. |
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H. C. Rawlinson, “Notes on a March from Zoháb
to Kirmánsháh, in the Year 1836,” JRGS 9, 1839. |
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Ḥ.-ʿA. Razmārā, Joḡrāfiā-ye niẓāmī-ye Irān: Pošt-e Kūh, Tehran, 1320 Š./1941. |
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M. L. Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, London, 1856. |
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A. T. Wilson, Military Report on South-West Persia, Simla, 1912, pp. 27-28. |
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(Pierre Oberling) |
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Originally Published: December 15, 1999 |
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Last Updated: December 15, 1999 |
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=== Political role === |
=== Political role === |
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The Feyli's suffered severe oppression under [[Saddam Hussein]] and his [[Baath Party|Baathist]] government. They joined others in opposing the dictatorial government in Iraq and fighting alongside other Iraqis and also joined national Iraqi parties such as the Iraqi Communist Party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of [[Kurdistan]] (PUK), and the National Kurdish Association. |
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'''World War Two - 1975''' |
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Feyli Kurds have been involved in the Kurdish movement in Iraq and with the emerging Kurdish political party, the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party]] (KDP) since it was founding in 1946, both as members and active supporters. |
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Some of them assumed higher positions and gained fame among Feyli Kurds, such as Dr. Jafar (Jafar Muhammad Karim) (13) Among the rank and file were, for example Shaban Nour Ali and others. There were special party cells and organizations for the Feyli Kurds living in Baghdad and elsewhere. These organizations were clandestine because the party was considered illegal from the start. |
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Involvement of '''Feyli Kurds''' with the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]] increased especially after the return of the renowned Kurdish national leader the late [[Mustafa Barzani]] from exile and the subsequent start of the Kurdish armed resistance against the central government in 1961. |
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In the middle of the nineteen sixties the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]] suffered a split, the late [[Mustafa Barzani]] leading the bigger faction and [[Jalal Talabani]] the other faction. Feyli Kurds, although joining both factions, were very disturbed and disappointed by this split and the subsequent infighting between the two factions. |
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Ordinary Feyli Kurds also supported the movement by making financial contributions and supplying safe houses in Baghdad and other i-racki towns and cities for [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]] members and high ranking figures. Feyli Kurds merchants in Baghdad and elsewhere aided the armed Kurdish movement with supplies and agricultural products and sold agricultural and animal produce from the Kurdish region proper. Many of these merchants were arrested more than once, tortured and imprisoned. (14) |
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After the signing of the March 11, 1970 agreement between the re-united Kurdish movement, headed by the late General Barzani and the central government, Feyli Kurds joined the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]] on a large scale. It was mostly after that agreement that Feyli Kurds assumed prominent positions within Kurdish organizations. |
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Among Feyli Kurds who assumed very high positions within the Kurdish movement were Zakia Ismail Haqqi, the first women judge in Iraq, who became the President of the Kurdistan Women Association, [[Adel Murad]] who became President of the Kurdistan Student Union, Yadollah Karim who had a leading post of Kurdistan Youth Association and Habib Muhammad Karim, who became acting secretary-general of the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party|KDP]], in the middle of nineteen seventies (15). It must sadly be added that the first woman in Iraq to be executed for political reasons was a Feyli Kurd, [[Leila Qasim]], from [[Khanaqin]]; she was hanged by the [[Baath regime]] in May 1974 along with 4 more young Kurds (16). |
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When the central government went back on the March 11, 1970 agreement, the armed struggle began again when the Kurdish region was attacked by government troops in March 1974. Many Feyli Kurds joined and took active part in that armed struggle; they included ordinary people, technocrats, students and others. Some became Peshmerga guerillas. |
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It can be said that so far the period between March 1970 and March 1974 was probably the “golden age” of Feyli Kurds’ participation in the Iraqi Kurdish movement when that movement was united under the leadership of the late [[Mustafa Barzani]]. The promotion of Feyli Kurds to these high positions was an expression of both his confidence in them and his recognition of their role in the movement as a whole. Some observers say this may have also been his response to the Iraqi regime’s deportation of Feyli Kurds at the beginning of the nineteen seventies on the pretext that they were not Iraqis but of Iranian origin and the of lack of, or weak, response from the Kurdish movement. At the time of the deportation of Feyli Kurds many of the leading figures in the Kurdish movement preferred inaction and acquiescence on the issue “in order not to upset relations with the Baath regime”. It must, however, be added that the late Mustafa Barzani again confirmed his position vis-à-vis Feyli Kurds by nominating Habib Muhammad Karim, a Feyli Kurd, to the post of Iraqi Vice President, a post given to the Kurds in accordance with the March 11, 1970 agreement between the Kurdish Movement and the central government (17). |
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'''Between 1976 and 2003''' |
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The armed movement collapsed in 1975 for internal and external factors, which will not be mentioned at this occasion. After the collapse, the Kurdish movement suffered internal divisions and bitter and sometime bloody conflict. |
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New political organizations emerged and old ones changed. Feyli Kurds joined these two main parties in increasing numbers. Here again Feyli Kurds played a prominent and sometimes a central part in the establishment of these organizations. The patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was established in 1976; among its founding members were Jalal Talabani along with two Feyli Kurds, Adel Murad and Abd al-Razzaq Aziz Mirza (usually known as Razzaq Faylee) and others. The KDP started a new organization, which was partly a revival of the old KDP, called the Provisional Leadership with a Feyli Kurd in charge of its foreign relations office in London. |
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After the 1991 popular uprising in Iraqi Kurdistan Feyli Kurds began to come to the liberated areas in increasing though limited numbers and within the ranks of most Kurdish and Iraqi opposition parties. Some even worked within the new Kurdish administration in the liberated areas in various capacities. Among them can be mentioned Habib Muhammad Karim, Yadollah Karim, Jalil Faylee, Adel Murad, Razzaq Faylee and others. (18) |
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'''At the Present''' |
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Feyli Kurds have joined the two main Kurdish political parties, the KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party), headed by the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) headed by the Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani. |
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Feyli Kurds have also joined other secular and religious i-racki political parties and organizations, within which some of them have sensitive posts. |
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A number of Feyli Kurds have been or are currently ministers or deputy ministers in the regional Kurdish government in Erbil (such as Yadollah Karim, KDP, and Haider Sheikh Ali, Communist Party) and the government in Suleimania (such as Abdul Razzaq Myrza and Sadoun Faylee, PUK). Others are commanders of Peshmerga (Kurdish guerrilla) units. And still others work in other capacities. (19) |
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Due to the economic, social, security and political unfavorable conditions prevailing in Iran during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and the many restrictions imposed on them and on their movement in Iran (because they were officially considered Iraqi citizens and commonly called Arabs (Arabaha, in Persian) by the population, tens of thousands of deportee Feyli Kurds chose to leave Iran by every and any possible way and method, however risky and dangerous. Many of them became victims of unscrupulous smugglers and corrupt officials. (20) |
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Feyli Kurds are at present spread over many parts of the world. Many of them still live in Iraq, especially in Baghdad and some in Iran after the latest mass deportation at the beginning of the nineteen eighties; others have chosen a life in exile, in Europe (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England, Holland and France) North America and Australia. |
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Since Feyli Kurds see themselves as part of the [[Kurdish people]] in i-rack and the Kurdish nation at large, they have not had and do not have any intention or desire to establish political organizations for Feyli Kurds as such, preferring instead to join existing Kurdish and other i-racki political parties. However, they have established non-political-party organizations, such as, for example, cultural, sports and academic associations and societies in order to keep the ties among themselves and take up their common problems and aspirations. (21) |
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Some Feyli Kurds feel that Kurdish parties can and should do more to address their specific grievances and problems and take up, in the appropriate forums, the apparent and obvious injustices committed against them by the Iraqi state for decades. They feel they are forgotten most of the time, especially when it counts. Some leaders of these parties counter this complaint by saying that the best way to do this is for the Feyli Kurds themselves to take up their case, their grievances and their demands and pursue their aspirations because no one else can or will do that as good as themselves (22). |
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It must be added that, on the one hand and regrettably, there are still among some leading figures in these parties and among some members of the Kurdish intelligentsia there is still limited and sometimes confused knowledge about the identity of Feyli Kurds and/or of their specific problems and the injustices committed against them. This has in turn led to some sort of indifference and lack of attention on their part towards these Kurds and their problems. This may be blamed in part on the Feyli Kurds themselves, though they have tried to bring or attract attention to their case. |
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Nevertheless, this would not justify that attitude. On the other hand, a number of Iraqi Arab writers and religious-cum-political leaders have publicized the plight of Feyli Kurds and strongly and relentlessly defended their rights. |
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There are Feyli Kurds who argue that they are still being ignored because they have no voice in either the Iraqi Governing Council or the government. However, others firmly believe that they must be represented and their representation should, if any, be within the Kurdish group in the Council and/or the government not as representative of Feyli Kurds per se but as part of the representatives of the Kurdish inhabitants of Iraq and as an affirmation and recognition that they are Kurds and Iraqis, as the late Barzani did in the seventies when Feyli Kurds reached high positions in the party and the other organizations of the movement not as representatives of Feyli Kurds as such but as an expression of his insistence both within the ranks of the Kurdish movement itself and as a stand vis-à-vis the central government that these people are both an integral part of Kurdish people as well as Iraqis. |
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=== Social role === |
=== Social role === |
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Adult males between the ages of 18-55 were detained and sent to various prison complexes in the country, with no legal procedures such as trials being taken before incarceration. It is estimated that between 13,000-30,000 Feyli's died under the conditions of captivity and systematical murder by the Baathist intelligence apparatus. These human right violations were only recognized after the fall of the regime, when access to documents and testimonies of former inmates and personnel became available. The underlying pretext for this act, was that Shiite Feylis would become potential recruits for the Iranian government, post-deportation. |
Adult males between the ages of 18-55 were detained and sent to various prison complexes in the country, with no legal procedures such as trials being taken before incarceration. It is estimated that between 13,000-30,000 Feyli's died under the conditions of captivity and systematical murder by the Baathist intelligence apparatus. These human right violations were only recognized after the fall of the regime, when access to documents and testimonies of former inmates and personnel became available. The underlying pretext for this act, was that Shiite Feylis would become potential recruits for the Iranian government, post-deportation. |
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Joost Hiltermann points to the old [[Safavid]]–[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] struggle, as the leadership of each country used religious references to characterize themselves, their enemies and their battles, unfailingly casting these in sectarian terms. One group of victims of this practice were Feyli |
Joost Hiltermann points to the old [[Safavid]]–[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] struggle, as the leadership of each country used religious references to characterize themselves, their enemies and their battles, unfailingly casting these in sectarian terms. One group of victims of this practice were Feyli lurs, deported by Saddam Hussein’s regime to Iran on the grounds that, supposedly, they were basically Persians. It was no coincidence, however, that Feyli lurs are also Shiites. Feyli lurs were not the only Iraqi Shiites to be deported to Iran, both during the Iran–Iraq war and before it. The practice affected any Iraqi Shiites who were listed in Iraq’s population register as ‘‘of Persian origin’’ (taba’iya Faresiya), as opposed to ‘‘of Ottoman origin’’ (taba’iya Othmaniya). This designation stemmed from Ottoman times, when citizens who sought to evade extended military service used a Persian ancestor to claim they were not Ottoman subjects. The modern Iraqi state inherited this system in the early 1920s. Post-1958 republican regimes used it as the basis for deportation policies designed to serve political agendas. <ref>Hiltermann, J. (2007). A new sectarian threat in the Middle East?. International Review of the Red Cross, 89(868), 795-808.</ref> |
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=== 2010 Trial of Baathists involved in crimes against Feylis === |
=== 2010 Trial of Baathists involved in crimes against Feylis === |
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On Monday 29 November 2010, an Iraqi court found Saddam Hussein's longtime foreign minister [[Tariq Aziz]] guilty of terrorizing Feyli |
On Monday 29 November 2010, an Iraqi court found Saddam Hussein's longtime foreign minister [[Tariq Aziz]] guilty of terrorizing Feyli lurs during the [[Iraq-Iran War|Iran-Iraq war]], sentencing him to 10 years in prison. Mohammed Abdul Saheb, a spokesman for [[Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal|Iraq's high criminal court]], said: "Today a judge found Tariq Aziz guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The evidence was enough to convict him of displacing and killing Feyli lurs. Aziz was a member of the revolutionary command council which cancelled the Iraqi nationality for the Feyli lurs."<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/29/tariq-aziz-iraq-sentence-lurs The Guardian | Tariq Aziz given additional 10-year jail term for persecution of Shia lurs<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The spokesman also said Aziz was spared a death sentence for the crimes against humanity because he had a lesser involvement than some of his co-defendants in the atrocities against the Feyli Kurds.<ref name="yahoo">[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq Yahoo! News | Iraq court gives Tariq Aziz new 10 year sentence<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Of the other 15 defendants in the Iraqi High Tribunal case, three Saddam loyalists were found guilty and sentenced to death. Two, including Aziz, were sentenced to 10 years in prison. The remaining 10 were acquitted, including Saddam's two half brothers, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan. The Feyli Kurd minority comes mainly from an area in northeastern Iraq that straddles the Iraq-Iran border. Saddams regime killed, detained and deported tens of thousands of Feyli lurs early in his 1980-1988 war with Iran, denouncing them as alien Persians and spies for the Iranians.<ref name="yahoo" /> |
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=== 2011 Feyli Conference in Baghdad === |
=== 2011 Feyli Conference in Baghdad === |
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On Saturday the first of October 2011, the National Conference for Feyli |
On Saturday the first of October 2011, the National Conference for Feyli lurs held a conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad which was attended by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri [[al-Maliki]]. Al-Maliki said in a speech "the Feyli lurs have been targets for harming, similar to other Iraqi communities". He also called "for the unity of Feyli lurs under a common tent, uniting them and organizing their activities, together with other Iraqi communities". He ended his speech by saying "we shall support the rights of the depressed Feyli lurs , beginning with the restoration of their official documents and their presence in their homeland and ending with the paying back the funds that were confiscated from them (during the former regime)". The Iraqi Prime Minister also recognized "that over 22,000 Feyli lurs had been deported from Iraq by the former regime, calling for the restoration of their rights".<ref>[http://en.aswataliraq.info/(S(baay1uqnw0tufz45vywvsd45))/Default.aspx?page=article_page&c=slideshow&id=145102 Aswat al-Iraq | Over 22,000 Iraq’s Faili Kurds deported by former regime, Maliki says<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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=== 2012 UNHCR report on stateless people residing inside Iraq === |
=== 2012 UNHCR report on stateless people residing inside Iraq === |
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An estimated 120,000 persons are believed to be stateless in Iraq as of 2012. These are mainly Faily |
An estimated 120,000 persons are believed to be stateless in Iraq as of 2012. These are mainly Faily lurs and Bidoons. This figure is gradually decreasing with increasing numbers of Faily lurs regaining their Iraqi citizenship in accordance with the Nationality Law of 2006. UNHCR is assisting in the identification of stateless persons, raising awareness about their problems and facilitating their access to ID and other legal documents.<ref>[http://www.iauiraq.org/documents/1773/June%202012%20fact%20sheet.pdf Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit | UNHCR Iraq Fact Sheet June, 2012<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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[[Category:Ilam Province]] |
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[[Category:Kermanshah Province]] |
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[[Category:Shia communities]] |
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Revision as of 13:08, 21 October 2013
 | It has been suggested that Feyli (Kurdish tribe) be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since October 2013. |
Feylis are a group of lur tribes located mainly in Luristan,Kermanshah and Ilam (Iran).[1] Feyli lurs are a community living in Baghdad and the Diyala Province of Iraq around Khanaqin and Mandali, and across the Iranian border, mainly in the provinces of Luristan, Kermanshah and Ilam. They number an estimated 6.000.000. people. The Fayli are an important community within the wider luri people. Faylee (Faylee, Faili, or Feli) are, according to some, part of the lurish population in Iraq and an integral part of the lurish nation, though others believe they are much more related to kurds and Persians.[citation needed] Faylee have themselves shown, over the years, and still show this fact and reality by words and deeds. They speak Feyli, a dialect that belongs to the luri language, which some argue is a dialect of middle Persian. Feyli is spoken particularly on both sides of the border areas between Iraq and Iran .[2]
The roots of the Feyli go back to the Parthian/Pahlawi/Pahlawanid settlements of the 2nd century BC. Archaeological evidence from the Ilam Province in Iran indicates that some proportions of Fayli might have been Nestorian Christians until the 18th century. The conversion to Shia form of Islam seem to have begun under the Safavid dynasty (1507–1721) of Persia/Iran, Faylis today are primarily Imami Shias like the Persians, Lurs and the Azeris, as well as the majority of the Iraqi Arabs.
In modern times the Feylis have been subject to state persecution.[3][4] They are considered as a stateless people, with both Iran and Iraq claiming they are citizens of the other country.[5] In the mid 1970s, Iraq expelled around 40,000 Feyli's who had lived for generations near Baghdad and Khanaqin, alleging that they were Iranian nationals.[6] in iranica enceclopedia :
FEYLĪ
group of Lor tribes located mainly in Luristan.
FEYLĪ, group of Lor tribes located mainly in Luristan. During the two centuries in which the whole of Luristan was ruled by hereditary wālīs (descended from Ḥosayn Khan Solvīzī, appointed by Shah ʿAbbās I in 1006/1597-98) all the tribes in the region were called Feylī, but, at the beginning of the 19th century, the situation changed. Moḥammad-ʿAlī Mīrzā, eldest son of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shah Qājār (1212-50/1797-1834) and governor-general of Kermānšāh, seized Pīš-e Kūh (the eastern part of Luristan), leaving to the wālī only Pošt-e Kūh (the western part). Because the name Feylī had been previously associated with the Solvīzī dynasty, it came to denote only those tribes in the Pošt-e Kūh (Eskandar Beg, tr. Savory, II, p. 721; Curzon, Persian Question, I, p. 278; Minorsky, p. 826).
There is little reliable information on the Feylī of the Pošt-e Kūh (for the most detailed reports, see Rabino, pp. 37-46; Razmārā, pp. 18-23). The two major Feylī tribes in the region are Kord and Mahakī (for a list of their subdivisions, or tīras, see Layard, pp. 99-100; Razmārā, pp. 21-23; Kayhān, Joḡrāfīā II, pp. 67-71).
In the 19th century H. C. Rawlinson (p. 107) estimated the population of Feylī in the Pošt-e Kūh at 12,000 families, A. H. Layard (pp. 99-100) at 10,000 families, George Curzon (Persian Question II, p. 274) at 210,000 individuals, H. L. Rabino (p. 40) at 10,000 families. More recently Henry Field (p. 184) has estimated it at 50,000-60,000 individuals and Masʿūd Kayhān (Joḡrāfīā II, p. 67) at 40,000 individuals.
Some of the Feylī of Luristan had supported Karīm Khan Zand (1163-93/1750-79) and accompanied him to Fārs (Oberling, p. 85), where their descendants are still to be found. In 1849 they were estimated at 100 families (Sheil, p. 398). In time these Feylī joined the ʿAmala tribe of the Qašqāʾī confederation; they were mentioned by Ḥasan Fasāʾī in Fārs-nāma (ed. Rastgār, II, p. 313). Since then some Feylī of the ʿAmala tribe have settled in and around Fīrūzābād. In 1956 they numbered approximately fifty individuals (Oberling, p. 86). Others have settled in Shiraz, where they live in the Maḥall-e Feylī. These Feylī were mentioned by Kayhān, who estimated their number at 150 families (Joḡrāfīā II, p. 83), and by Field, whose estimate was 100 families (p. 222). In 1956 they comprised between 800 and 1,000 individuals (Oberling, p. 86).
Bibliography:
C. A. de Bode, Travels in Luristan and Arabistan II, London, 1845, p. 290.
H. Field, Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran, Chicago, 1939.
A. H. Layard, “Description of the Province of Khuzistan,” JRGS 16, 1846, pp. 99-100.
O. Mann, Die Mundarten der Lur-Stämme im südwestlichen Persien, Berlin, 1910, pp. xxiv-xxv.
V. Minorsky, “Lur,” EI2 V, pp. 820-26.
P. Oberling, The Turkic Peoples of Southern Iran, New York, 1960.
H. L. Rabino, Les tribus du Louristan, Paris, 1916.
H. C. Rawlinson, “Notes on a March from Zoháb to Kirmánsháh, in the Year 1836,” JRGS 9, 1839.
Ḥ.-ʿA. Razmārā, Joḡrāfiā-ye niẓāmī-ye Irān: Pošt-e Kūh, Tehran, 1320 Š./1941.
M. L. Sheil, Glimpses of Life and Manners in Persia, London, 1856.
A. T. Wilson, Military Report on South-West Persia, Simla, 1912, pp. 27-28.
(Pierre Oberling)
Originally Published: December 15, 1999
Last Updated: December 15, 1999
Etymology of the name
A likely explanation is given by M. R. Izady.[7] He claims that the Arabic Feyli is a corruption of Pahla, meaning Parthia, a kingdom based in modern day Iran, contemporaneous with the Roman Empire. The change occurred because Arabic alphabet lacks the letter p, rendering it as an "f" instead (this sound change can also be seen in Palestine/Philistin فلسطين and Persian/فارسي), but sometimes also as a "b". Early Arabic texts recorded the name as Fahla or Bahla, the former of which became the more common, corrupting eventually to Faila, of which the adjective is Faili or Feyli.
Feyli homeland
Since ancient times, the Feylis have lived in the border area between Iraq and Iran, which consists of the Zagros Mountains and cliffs. They live on the two sides of this mountain in Iran and Iraq and they call it Kabir Kuh, "the great mountain".
The areas on the Iraqi side from north to south are the following: Khanaqin, Shahraban (now called Al-Meqdadia), Mandali, Badrah, Zorbateyah, Jassan, Al–Kut and Al-Azizyah. They also reside in a number of cities in the area of Shaikh Sa’ad, Ali Sharqi, Ali Gharbi and Al–Kofah, which is 170 kilometres (110 mi) south of Baghdad.
However, as early as the first decade of the 20th century, many Feylis moved to Baghdad and lived in its center. Consequently, there are some areas which are named after them, such as the Kurdish quarter, the Kurdish alley, and the Kurdish Street.
On the Iranian side, the Feylis live in the following areas, from north to south: Qasre Shirin, Kermanshah, Karand, Islam Abad e Gharb (former Shah Abad), Sarpol-i Zohab, Gilan e Gharb, Ilam, chavar, Saleh Abad, Badreh, Dehloran, abdanan, darehshahr, eyvan, shirvan va chardavol, malekshahi, meymeh,ilam, zarin abad or pahleh. The word of pahleh can be related with feyli.
As for the weather, it is dry in summer but the mountains are usually covered with lays of snow, which melts in summer to irrigate the lands. In summer, many people move with their sheep to the tops of the mountains because there are wide areas of grass; when the winter comes, they go back to their villages. Some lurs work in trade and goods exchange and other free works (urban professions).
The Feyli people have proved to be so persistent and civilized as they studied hard to join the universities of the main cities and got good jobs. In his book "Ameroir of Baghdad" issued by Al-Rais publishing house, Cyprus 1993 the ex minister Mosa Al-Shabandar describes the life of the Feylis. It is very difficult to give an accurate estimate of the Failis' population, as many of them in Iraq have been deported and ethnically cleansed; however, some estimate that about 2.5 millions lived in Iraq and 3 million in Iran. The Iraqi Minorities Council and Minority Rights Group International estimate that prior to the current war there were 1,000,000 Feylis in Iraq[8]
Tribes and clans
Feylis consist of many tribes and clans. Their names are sometimes based on the name of their tribal leader or where they live but sometimes they take vocational names. Here are listed some of them: Ali Sherwan (he was from the tribe of Sanjabi and established Beyrey tribe) tribe and his four sons Cheragh, Safar, Heydar or Hiar, and Dara — each one of these four established a tribe in his name like Cheragh Wandi, Safar Wandi, Hiar Wandi, and Dara Wandi) Malek Shahi tribe Jamal Vandi tribe Ansari tribe Kalhur tribe Zouri or Zhohairi clan Qaitoli clan Khezell or Khaza`al clan Shuhan clan Mousi clan
Ali Sherwan is the name of a prominent Feyli tribe inhabiting mainly Ilam in Iran. Members of the tribe believe themselves to be descendants of Ali Sherwan. Feyli are composed of several clans. Their names can tell about where they are from, what clan they belong and where they live. According to Najm Suleiman Mahdi in his book "The Faily Kurds, Who are they," is the most important Feyli clans following;
Laki, Kordali, Ali Sherwan consisting of (his four sons/clans Cheragh Wandi, Safar Wandi, Herwandi, Darawandi), Malek Shahi, Jaberi, Ansari, kalhor, Zouri or Zhohairi, Qaitoli, Khezell, Showhan, Mousie, Warkoz, Kalawai, Bolia, Maliman, Zangana, Bakhtiari, Zand, Soria-Mori, Mamsani, Jgangi, Papi, Bojarahmad, Kahlgilija, Mishkhas, Hasanwandi, Pirawandi, Kakwandi, Dinawandi, Dohsan, Zouri, Bawe, Larti, Heni-meni, Qazi, Qalawlaws, Aljoi, Mafi, Warizwand, Amreri, Panchseton, Wazrgoush, Tolabi, Siljurzi, Shola, Qaderhama, and Kaka
The Feylis in the Iraqi society
The existence of the Feyli's in Iraq has never been marginal. On the contrary, they have participated in all political, social, cultural, and economical activities.
Economical role
The Feylis have had a great economical and commercial weight, especially in Baghdad. They owned and operated merchant, logistics, construction business. Also after the Baghdad Jews left during the fifties, some Jews sold their business (mostly in trading) to Feylis. The wealth pushed Saddam to confiscate their capitals and properties and expel them to Iran, claiming that they are not genuine Iraqis but instead that they're Iranians. The injustice that happened to the Feylis is similar as what happened to the Jew during the II World War in Europe.
Political role
The Feyli's suffered severe oppression under Saddam Hussein and his Baathist government. They joined others in opposing the dictatorial government in Iraq and fighting alongside other Iraqis and also joined national Iraqi parties such as the Iraqi Communist Party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the National Kurdish Association.
Social role
The Feyli's have had a very effective role in social life as they have established social centers, clubs, and youth and women associations. That has been made possible due to the presence of many famous Feylis in different fields.
Deportation from Iraq during the Saddam era
During the 70s and 80s a large segment of the Feyli population in Baghdad were forcibly deported to the Iranian border by Iraqi police and intelligence units on the order of the authorities. Their properties seized as well as being stripped of their legal documents and citizenship, the Feyli's were effectively rendered into right-less foreigners. Most of the targeted families were of significant influence on a large spectrum of Iraqi society. Having a high level of education, commercial success and ranking positions in the military. The Baathist regime fearing potential dissidence and opposition, implemented deportation policies against Feylis. The official claim was that Feylis were Iranian nationals.
Adult males between the ages of 18-55 were detained and sent to various prison complexes in the country, with no legal procedures such as trials being taken before incarceration. It is estimated that between 13,000-30,000 Feyli's died under the conditions of captivity and systematical murder by the Baathist intelligence apparatus. These human right violations were only recognized after the fall of the regime, when access to documents and testimonies of former inmates and personnel became available. The underlying pretext for this act, was that Shiite Feylis would become potential recruits for the Iranian government, post-deportation.
Joost Hiltermann points to the old Safavid–Ottoman struggle, as the leadership of each country used religious references to characterize themselves, their enemies and their battles, unfailingly casting these in sectarian terms. One group of victims of this practice were Feyli lurs, deported by Saddam Hussein’s regime to Iran on the grounds that, supposedly, they were basically Persians. It was no coincidence, however, that Feyli lurs are also Shiites. Feyli lurs were not the only Iraqi Shiites to be deported to Iran, both during the Iran–Iraq war and before it. The practice affected any Iraqi Shiites who were listed in Iraq’s population register as ‘‘of Persian origin’’ (taba’iya Faresiya), as opposed to ‘‘of Ottoman origin’’ (taba’iya Othmaniya). This designation stemmed from Ottoman times, when citizens who sought to evade extended military service used a Persian ancestor to claim they were not Ottoman subjects. The modern Iraqi state inherited this system in the early 1920s. Post-1958 republican regimes used it as the basis for deportation policies designed to serve political agendas. [9]
2010 Trial of Baathists involved in crimes against Feylis
On Monday 29 November 2010, an Iraqi court found Saddam Hussein's longtime foreign minister Tariq Aziz guilty of terrorizing Feyli lurs during the Iran-Iraq war, sentencing him to 10 years in prison. Mohammed Abdul Saheb, a spokesman for Iraq's high criminal court, said: "Today a judge found Tariq Aziz guilty and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The evidence was enough to convict him of displacing and killing Feyli lurs. Aziz was a member of the revolutionary command council which cancelled the Iraqi nationality for the Feyli lurs."[10] The spokesman also said Aziz was spared a death sentence for the crimes against humanity because he had a lesser involvement than some of his co-defendants in the atrocities against the Feyli Kurds.[11] Of the other 15 defendants in the Iraqi High Tribunal case, three Saddam loyalists were found guilty and sentenced to death. Two, including Aziz, were sentenced to 10 years in prison. The remaining 10 were acquitted, including Saddam's two half brothers, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan and Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan. The Feyli Kurd minority comes mainly from an area in northeastern Iraq that straddles the Iraq-Iran border. Saddams regime killed, detained and deported tens of thousands of Feyli lurs early in his 1980-1988 war with Iran, denouncing them as alien Persians and spies for the Iranians.[11]
2011 Feyli Conference in Baghdad
On Saturday the first of October 2011, the National Conference for Feyli lurs held a conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad which was attended by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki said in a speech "the Feyli lurs have been targets for harming, similar to other Iraqi communities". He also called "for the unity of Feyli lurs under a common tent, uniting them and organizing their activities, together with other Iraqi communities". He ended his speech by saying "we shall support the rights of the depressed Feyli lurs , beginning with the restoration of their official documents and their presence in their homeland and ending with the paying back the funds that were confiscated from them (during the former regime)". The Iraqi Prime Minister also recognized "that over 22,000 Feyli lurs had been deported from Iraq by the former regime, calling for the restoration of their rights".[12]
2012 UNHCR report on stateless people residing inside Iraq
An estimated 120,000 persons are believed to be stateless in Iraq as of 2012. These are mainly Faily lurs and Bidoons. This figure is gradually decreasing with increasing numbers of Faily lurs regaining their Iraqi citizenship in accordance with the Nationality Law of 2006. UNHCR is assisting in the identification of stateless persons, raising awareness about their problems and facilitating their access to ID and other legal documents.[13]
References
- ^ FEYLĪ, group of Iranian tribes located mainly in Luristan.
- ^ Faylee Kurds Democratic Union (http://www.faylee.org/english/studies/doc3.php)
- ^ Khesrau Goran Kurdistan through your eyes: Volume I (Stockholm 1992) P 152: 161.
- ^ The Amnesty International Report, pp.220, 1976, see p.34
- ^ Fear, Flight and Forcible Exile: Refugees in the Middle East, Amnesty International, 1997. (see p.13)
- ^ Robert Freedman, The Middle East Enters the Twenty-first Century, 416 pp., 2002, ISBN 0-8130-3110-9, p.33
- ^ M. R. Izady. (1992) The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Taylor & Francis
- ^ BBC NEWS | Middle East | Crushing Iraq's human mosaic
- ^ Hiltermann, J. (2007). A new sectarian threat in the Middle East?. International Review of the Red Cross, 89(868), 795-808.
- ^ The Guardian | Tariq Aziz given additional 10-year jail term for persecution of Shia lurs
- ^ a b Yahoo! News | Iraq court gives Tariq Aziz new 10 year sentence
- ^ Aswat al-Iraq | Over 22,000 Iraq’s Faili Kurds deported by former regime, Maliki says
- ^ Inter-Agency Information and Analysis Unit | UNHCR Iraq Fact Sheet June, 2012