30/04/2025

Story of a Kurd from Southern Kurdistan

Story of a Kurd from Southern Kurdistan When we were in Dubz prison, pregnant women were with us. Whenever a woman gave birth, I would act as the midwife. When I was 20 years old, in our village, I had learned how to cut umbilical cords and be a midwife for women. My name is Nergiz Aziz Baba Aziz, known as “Nergiz the Midwife.” I was born in 1955 and am from the village of Jabari in the Chamchamal district. Late one night, Baath soldiers raided our village and took all of us in covered military vehicles to Topzawa in Kirkuk. At first, they separated us all from each other. They took the women to Dubz prison and the men to Nugra Salman. During our time in prison, every day the prison official would come to us and say: “You will no longer be Kurdish or practice Kurdish nationalism. This will be your place until you die!” While in prison and until we were released, we didn’t know what happened to the others, because when they separated us, some died from the extreme heat and lack of water. In Dubz prison, more than 60 children were born by my hands. Although there was a hospital there, because we were Kurdish, they wouldn’t take us to the hospital even if we fell ill. When Saddam issued a general amnesty and we were released, none of our men and boys had returned. In my father’s house alone, more than 20 men had been buried alive. I had six children. One of my children even died in prison from starvation. Food in prison was only one piece of hard bread. Until my child died, they kept crying out for bread. Finally, after the general amnesty, one night they put us in five vehicles and later dumped us in Arbat. From that night until two years ago, I continued in the profession of midwifery, but later the government officially banned the practice of midwifery.