 People forced to flee from their homes in Ninevah await transport to IDP camps Assyrians, Yazidis, Shabak, Yarsans or Ahl-Haqq and Turkemen had co-existed peacefully for thousands of years in a culturally rich area 250 miles (400km) north-west of Baghdad, the 'Ninewah' or the Ninevah plain. Compared to the Kurds and Arab Iraqis, these groups are considered 'minorities' and marginalized in other regions of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Their ethnicity and distinct language is their nexus since all comprise families who have chosen their religions. While most Assyrians are Christians, some are Eastern Orthodox and some Catholic; Yezidis have some practices of Zoroastrianism and some from Islam and there are also Christian Yezidis. Turkmen have both Sunni and Shia Muslims as well as Catholics in their fold, for example. All these ethnicities were/are focus targets of Daesh/ISIS. Thousands of their people were killed, tortured and tens of thousands forced to flee. Those who had money and connections found their ways to other countries, but most were left internally displaced in their own countries or nearby. There is an official term for people who are forced to flee their homes and communities in their own countries. The United Nations coined the term IDP , standing for "Internally Displaced Person". The estimate for IDPs globally is forty-40-million people. The majority of IDPS come from three countries: Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. www.internal-displacement.org/global-report/grid2017/ The estimate for IDPs in Iraq at present is 2.0 million people, of which at least 1.5 million are in Kurdistan - northern Iraq. previous.cabinet.gov.krd/p/page.aspx?l=12&p=484&h=1&t=407 The current population of Iraq is estimated to be 39.5 million people. Approximately five percent (5%) of their population is displaced. www.worldometers.info/world-population/iraq-population/ To compare, Afghanistan has approximately 2.1 million IDPs. The population of Afghanistan is 38.1 million people. The percentage of IDPs to population in Afghanistan is 5.6% of their population. The estimate for IDPs in Syria is 6.1 million people. It has the largest number of IDPs in the world and it is not a large country. www.internal-displacement.org/countries/syria Syria in 2012, had a population of over 22 million people. In 2019, the population is estimated to be at 17 million. worldpopulationreview.com/countries/syria-population/ More than one third, 33.3% of Syria's population is displaced. This has happened over only seven years. Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria have been the chessboard on which nations with more military might have fought over because of their natural resources and strategic location. While the nations who invaded: Britain, France, Russia and the United States have also invested blood and treasure in their campaigns, the people who live in those countries and had the misfortune of being in their own homes at the "wrong time in history", are the ones who suffer the most. A country bordering Iraq and Afghanistan and near enough to Syria that transport is relatively easy by land...is Iran. Iran is a country with large land mass, natural resources and a population of 83.1 million and there is no accurate number of refugees who are living currently in Iran as a result of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. An estimated 4 million people are refugees in Iran, of which about 3.3 million are Afghan refugees, the majority are presumed to be Hazara-Shiite. There are technically no more IDPs in Iran except for transitional IDPs as a result of earthquakes and other natural disasters.   Why do I include maps of oil production? The "black gold" is still the reason for the continual sieges of these countries and threats of yet more invasive and offensive tactics because of coveting each others resources. Afghanistan has actual gold, emeralds, lithium, copper, iron and uranium with estimates of up to 3 Trillion worth if excavated. www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2018/05/29/afghanistans-mineral-resources-fueling-war-and-insurgency/
Iraq, with it's known reserves of petroleum, natural gas and phosphate has been fought over fiercely for over 100 years from without and within. Within Iraq, the factions, tribes and ethnicities battle each other and battled Daesh/ISIS in the current political borders. Decimating certain ethnic and religious communities makes it easier for those in power to eliminate competitors to their natural resource prizes. Yes, it still is about oil. ISIS wanted/wants the oil, the Taliban wants the mining rights, paramilitary Shiite militias supported from Iran want it all. Control is not relinquished easily. crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/gulf-and-arabian-peninsula/iraq/188-iraqs-paramilitary-groups-challenge-rebuilding-functioning-state What does Russia, the US, France and China (the new "Great Game Player") want in the region? Do you think their appetites have changed? Conquering the land, terrorizing the inhabitants so they flee, then re-inhabiting the land with those chosen by those taking over; makes the process smoother and overall diminishes competition. Supplanting religious sites and commandeering by one sect over another in the "restoration" phases after war is another way to displace a people, religions and culture. Iran is taking advantage of the north of Iraq ruined by the occupation of Daesh/ISIS. Here is one example: www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/iransource/why-an-iran-backed-paramilitary-group-has-rebuilt-a-shrine-in-a-ruined-iraqi-city China is quietly buying up land via proxy businesses and laundering money through Lebanese banks in Kurdistan. Human beings have been using these strategies for millennia-the stakes have risen however, in terms of number of people displaced, wounded and killed and the toxic materials deployed which ultimately destroy some of the natural resources, waterways and land they are fighting over. www.toxicremnantsofwar.info/iraqs-continuing-struggle-with-conflict-pollution/ Avarice becomes like an obsession and an addiction for some people. The combination of greed plus power=ravaging and carnage. Can you prove otherwise? Please do. IF you have a home, have basic utilities which work reliably and live in a country with at least the framework of a rule of law that is corrupt less than 50% of the time, you are the lucky ones. Stand your ground to keep it that way for the next generation. Ending tonight with a song from Woody Guthrie an American songwriter and singer born in Oklahoma but when oil was discovered in his hometown of Okemah in 1920, it became a "boom town" and then went "bust" so Woody left travelling all over North America singing his message. He lived from 1912-1967-one bio site is linked: woodyguthrie.org/biography/biography1.htm Woody Guthrie's song is entitled: "I Ain't Got No Home In This World Anymore" www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z6OEqc0uS0 Nor do I actually. Nor do millions of us. Until next Tuesday, Jo
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