Kurdistan
The burial ceremony of 100 Barzani victims of the Anfal genocide on July 31, 2022. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region’s leaders on Sunday commemorated the 36th anniversary of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds, reiterating calls for compensation for the victims.
The Anfal campaign, named after the eighth surah in the Quran, was the codename for Hussein’s genocide that killed around 182,000 Kurds.
Describing it as “one of the most terrible crimes and genocides,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani lamented that the consequences of the genocide are still felt with the Kurds to this day.
“While the Iraqi High Criminal Court has recognized this crime as a genocide, we reiterate our call to the federal government of Iraq to fulfill its duty and compensate them [the victims] in every way,” President Barzani stressed, calling for better services to the victims’ families.
President Barzani also stressed his “comprehensive efforts” to ensure that Anfal is recognized as a genocide on an international level.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also commemorated the occasion, calling Anfal an “unprecedented and unforgettable crime,” one that should not be forgotten through generations.
“The Kurdistan Regional Government considers it its duty to serve the families of the Anfal victims, while emphasizing that it is the moral and constitutional duty of the federal government to compensate the families of the Anfal victims and all victims of the Baath regime,” Prime Minister Barzani said.
The Iraqi parliament recognized Anfal as genocide on April 14, 2008. The military commanders who carried out the campaign were handed death sentences. Ali Hassan Majeed, known as “Chemical Ali,” was hanged in 2011.
Yet 35 years after the massacre, Anfal survivors say they still have not received compensation from Iraq.
The Garmiyan phase of the Anfal campaign began on April 14, 1988, in the southernmost reaches of the Kurdistan Region, and that date is used to commemorate the anniversary of Anfal every year.
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