ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq's Second Deputy Parliament Speaker Shakhawan Abdullah called on Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari to lift a freeze on civil status records of Feyli Kurds in a September document obtained by The New Region on Wednesday.

Once an integral part of Iraq’s social fabric, the Feylis faced severe persecution following the rise of the Baath party in 1968, as part of the party’s discriminatory policies against the Kurdish population.

In 1969, over 70,000 Feylis were deported to Iran after the state denied their Iraqi heritage. In 1980, during the rule of Saddam Hussein, over 360,000 Feyli Kurds had their citizenship revoked and properties confiscated, with the minority group also being subjected to mass deportations.

A statement released by Abdullah’s office on Wednesday showcases a document addressing the Iraqi interior ministry “regarding Feyli Kurdish citizens whose civil status records have been frozen in the Civil Status Department in Khanaqin and Mandali districts, and other departments.”

"They were deported during the era of the former regime and are supposed, under the law, to have their citizenship restored," the statement added.

“We would appreciate you giving this matter a great deal of attention and lifting the freeze on their civil status records,” the document, dated September 15, said, citing the “injustice” the minority group were subjected to under the former regime.

The document further stressed that despite a lengthy back-and-forth correspondence between relevant institutions to address this issue, the “problems in this regard have not been resolved.”

The Iraqi Nationality Law of 2006 ensured that denaturalized Feyli Kurds would be entitled to regain Iraqi citizenship, with a  2013 report by the Institute for International Law and Human Rights asserting that 97 percent of those stripped of their nationality living both in and outside Iraq have had their Iraqi citizenship restored.

In 2011, the Iraqi parliament recognized the deportations and erasure attempts as genocide. Efforts to address the injustices intensified in 2019, focusing on property rights and public employment.

Numbering around 1.5 million people, the Feylis still struggle with legal and political challenges, exacerbated by ongoing disputes between Iraq's central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.