Peregraf- Amir Khanaqini
It had been too early for Akram Hatam to leave his job and return home. He was not only concerned about his life, but his responsibility for the lives of the other villagers had weighed heavily on him from the day he took his assassinated brother’s place as councilor of Mekhas village.
It was 3:00 in the afternoon when Akram, a new councilor in the Kakais’ Mekhas village council in Khanaqin (southeast of Diyala), spoke to Peregraf, sitting on the terrace of his home overlooking a large yard. The sweat from his day of work had not dried yet, and he could not conceal the agony and pain for his deceased bother.
“Because of the terrorists, we cannot access our fields like we did before. We always live in a state of fear and apprehension.”
Akram is a cheerful 40-year-old man, but his face is full of terror and anxiety. He kept his eyes fixed on the door to his house and declined to discuss everything that had happened because “I will get into trouble later,” he said.
As the the village head and councilor, he must soon prepare for his shift on the night watch. He enthusiastically spoke to his nephew, who was riding a bike in the yard.
Akram’s brother was killed by gunmen on May 10, 2020 while he was reaping wheat with his cousin.
That night, Akram saw flames flickering in his brother Burhan’s field from several kilometers away. “We later learned that some terrorists killed my brother and my cousin and set three tractors and a portion of their wheat and barley fields on fire.”
Recently, some military checkpoints were established by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and Iraqi Army, “but we still feel stress and anxiety,” said Akram Hatam.
The district of Khanaqin contains the villages of Mekhas, Dara, Kalhur, Ramazan, Tapa Charmi, Qaramel, Amin Bapir, Mala Rahman, Bahar Taza, and Qalama, which the Kakais’ regard as their homeland.
Ramazan, Kalhur, and Tapa Charmi have been evacuated due to attacks from armed groups. Around 30 to 35 families from Mekhas and Dara villages have moved to Kalar and Khanaqin districts.
Prior to the deterioration of the security situation in Khanaqin district, more than 500 families lived in Mekhas village. The village is located six kilometers of southwest of the city of Khanaqin, but many families have left.
According to data Peregraf obtained in this investigation, thirteen Kakai civilians in the villages of Mekhas and Dara have been killed over the past two years. Another was injured and is still in treatment.
The last violent attack on Mekhas and Dara came on the night of June 13, 2020 when seven Kakais and a number of security forces were killed. ISIS later took responsibility.
After the attack, PMF Bridgade 110 and the Commando Battalion of Iraqi Army moved into the area. The number of attacks have decreased over the past three months, but the fear of the Kakai villagers has not diminished.
Rajab Kakai, an activist and Kakai rights observer, told Peregraf: “The current situation of Kakais in Khanaqin is not good and they live in a volatile situation. There is always the fear that a terrorist attack might occur at any time.”
The source of the threat
After October 16, 2017 when Peshmerga Forces retreated and the Khanaqin fell under the control of the Iraqi Army and PMF, the Kakais’ peaceful lives were disrupted.
In particular, the resettlement of Arabs and the sudden attacks by ISIS have disturbed the lives of Kakais in these villages. An Arab tribe living in the area before 2003 returned to the Khanaqin area from Jalawla after 2017, claiming the lands and resources of the Kakais.
Sherko Mirways, a representative from Khanaqin in the Iraqi Parliament, has visited the area with a board from Security and Defense Committee to investigate the Kakais’ situation. While he has asked parliament for help, he thinks Iraqi government is “unconcerned.”
Mirways told Peregraf: “The attacks are carried out in the name of ISIS, but under the shadow of the various militias who work in an official capacity during the day and carry out a process of Arabization and persecution and crime against the Kurds by night.”
Sometimes, Iraqi Army and PMF conduct campaigns against ISIS members in the area. The PMF have set up checkpoints and surveillance cameras on some of the roads and and in areas in the vicinity of Khanaqin.
Mala Hashm Mandalawi, representative of Diyala Governorate’s PMF Command for Tribal Affairs in Khanaqin asserts that the attacks and crimes against the Kakais are committed by ISIS.
He told Peregraf: “Our first priority is to protect the Kakais because they are an integral part of us. ISIS terrorists act like gangs in the area to commit terroristic acts.”
The fields near Mekhas village where Akram’s brother Burhan and their cousin were killed, the filed and three tractors were set on fire.
Who hears the cry of the Kakais?
Although Iraqi Army and PMF have implemented some regulations to provide security for the Kakais, the Kakais’ cause is not regarded as a serious concern in the Iraqi government.
The Iraqi government and the Ministry of Displacement and Migration have closed the case of internal displaced people in Iraq, so displaced Kakais cannot register as internally displaced persons.
As Ali Ghazi, Director of the Displacement and Migration office in Khanaqin, says that the Iraqi government is only providing displaced families with some food.
Coordination between Peshmerga Forces and Iraqi Army
In October of last year, there was hope for improving security in Khanaqin after the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Peshmerga agreed to open two centers for joint cooperation in Erbil and Baghdad to discuss joint operations in Kirkuk and other disputed areas.
Both sides agreed to work to open a joint center in Diyala, establish checkpoints, and draft plans for operations against terrorrist groups.
Negotiations to form these joint centers between the federal and regional ministries followed a series of meetings in response to mounting turmoil caused by armed groups in Kirkuk and other disputed areas such as Ninawa, Diyala and Salahaddin.
But Sherko Mirways claims that the Iraq government is not serious about the issue. He thinks that restoring genuine stability to the area will require a joint force comprised of Peshmerga and Iraqi forces to manage security.
But the PMF commander in Diyala suggested another resolution. Mala Hashm Mandalawi says: “We asked the Kakais to join PMF, but they rejected our request.”
Until Peshmerga and Iraqi Army restore security to the area, the villagers believe that the best solution is to take up arms to defend themselves.
But this is not easily accomplished; the families that had more than one rifle have destroyed the others. Iraqi forces have registered privately-owned firearms, allowing each family to keep only one.
Some residents of Mekhas expressed the fear to Peregraf that they might have lost the opportunity to take up arms in self-defense.
They have asked for permission to stockpile more weapons, including heavy weapons.
Keeping the faith
The Kakai people have their own religion and reside in Kirkuk, Halabja, Ninawa, Erbil, Khanaqin and some other areas of Diyala. According to unofficial data, their population is estimated at approximately 100,000 people and they have lived peacefully and have held on to their beliefs.
Rajab Kakai discussed emerging threats to the Kakai faith.
“The Kakais are faced with two options: [The PMF] tells Kakais, ‘you are being threated and if you want to protect yourselves, you have to joint PMF.’ In this way, they want to convert them to Shia [Islam] and change their beliefs. The second option is, if the Kakais don’t change their faith, they will continue to face threats.”
Rajab says that these impossible choices have forced Kakais to leave the area and be replaced by resettled Arabs.
Mekhas does not sleep
This Peregraf correspondent remained in the village of Mekhas until evening. As soon as the sun set, the children stopped playing, the shops in the village and on the main Kalar-Khanaqin road closed, and women and girls hurried home from work – movement stopped in Merkhas village as if there were a curfew in place.
This scene of trepidation and worry has prevailed for months in Kakais’ Mekhas village. With night approaching, silence rules in the village.
The heads of household lock and secure all the doors while boys and men take up arms and get ready for the night watch.
The guards tiptoe on the roofs of the houses, their fingers on the triggers of their rifles, waiting for gunmen to appear.
“When the sun sets, we feel insecure so boys and men take up arms to protect their village until the morning comes,” said Akram Hatam.
This investigative report was written by Amir Khanaqini for Peregraf as part of the Intensive Journalism Workshop funded by the German Foreign Office.