Portsmouth could form friendship link with Kurdish Iraqi city

Councillors will consider forming a friendship link with Halabja in Iraq to honour Lady Adela, who saved numerous British soldiers and officers during and after the First World War.

Portsmouth City Council will host a meeting on September 10 to explore the possibility of forming a friendship link with the Kurdish city.

The idea was proposed by Kurdish Home, a Portsmouth-based community support organisation representing the Kurdish community in the city.

The idea first gained momentum in 2019, when the president of the Halabja Chamber of Commerce, Peshwa Ahmad, met Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the leader of Portsmouth City Council at the time. However, progress was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March this year, Halabja governor Nuxsha Nasih renewed the proposal alongside the Kurdish Home group in a video message.

The message marked the 38th anniversary of the Halabja Massacre, when, on March 16, 1988, Saddam Hussein’s regime carried out the largest chemical weapons attack directly targeted against civilians in human history.

Around 5,000 people lost their lives and thousands more were injured. The tragedy left the city as an important symbol of Kurdish identity, resilience and human rights advocacy.

The city

Halabja is in north-east Iraq, around 150 miles north-east of the capital, Baghdad, and about nine miles from the Iranian border.

It is within Kurdistan, a region in Southwest Asia that is home to roughly 30m ethnic Kurds spread across eastern Turkey, western Iran, northern Iraq and smaller parts of Syria and Armenia.

This makes Kurds one of the largest stateless national groups in the world.

Halabja is the capital of its governorate, one of four in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a semi-autonomous federal region that borders Turkey, Iran and Syria.

The Halabja Governorate was recognised in April last year by the Iraqi government as the country’s 19th province following years of campaigning.

Depending on the geographical area measured, the city has an estimated population of between 75,000 and 140,000.

Its governor, Nuxsha Nasih, was appointed in March last year and made history as the first female governor in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

Despite the UK government advising against all but essential travel to the area, the city is a rising tourist destination celebrated for its valleys, mountains, pomegranate orchards, grape vineyards, natural freshwater springs and world renowned walnuts.

Why link with Portsmouth?

The Kurdish community in Portsmouth is keen to make the link because of Lady Adela, a Kurdish noblewoman of the Jaff tribe who ruled the Halabja Region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

She transformed Halabja from a modest village into a thriving cultural and trade hub and maintained a strong relationship with the British Empire during its mandate in Mesopotamia.

She was recognised for her role in maintaining peace, restoring stability and helping the British during the First World War, hosting delegations in Halabja.

In 1919, when Kurdish nationalist leader Mahmud Barzanji revolted and launched a targeted campaign to murder all British political officers, Lady Adela resisted. She granted refuge to British officers inside her own homes, saving them from execution.

As a result, the British government awarded her the prestigious title of Khan Bahadur, meaning Princess of the Brave.

Additionally, the link between the two cities has been encouraged by the local Kurdish community due to the shared suffering experienced by Halabja in 1988 and Portsmouth during the Blitz in the Second World War, which killed nearly 1000 people.

The council’s report says that a link with Halabja could benefit Portsmouth through “educational partnerships, cultural exchange, community cohesion, civic engagement and the strengthening of Portsmouth’s international relationships”.