There was widespread political oppression and persecution of the Kurdish community.
This included mass executions and disappearances of the Kurdish community.
Local representatives from the Arab and Kurdish communities were talking to people in neighborhoods, urging calm.
An interpreter had been brought in from Glasgow's Kurdish community.
Their main goal at the time was the integration of the Kurdish community in the Belgian society.
In the north, the Kurdish community has broken away to create a semi-autonomous region of its own.
He has worked for many years in support of the Kurdish community in the Middle East.
Today they and their descendants are a major part of the 150,000-200,000 strong Kurdish Jewish community in Israel.
By doing this, he has extended a hand to the Kurdish community, which, though, has yet to accept this gesture.
Is there a Kurdish community, an exile community, where he might go?