31 July 1983, 8,000 members of Barzani tribe killed by Arabs

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Monument for Barzan genocide victims

On July 31, 1983, an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were rounded up, abducted from their homes in the Zagros mountains and taken to the deserts of southern Iraq where they were killed on the orders of the Baath regime

The remains of 596 Barzanis have been found in mass graves in southern Iraq. They were returned home, to the Barzan area where they have been laid to rest in unmarked graves, without being identified through DNA testing. Thousands of others are still missing.

The atrocity was an act of collective punishment of the Barzanis, whose leaders were active in Kurdish revolts against the Iraqi regime. Men and boys were the primary targets, but women, children, and the elderly were all victims. Thirty-eight years later, the wounds are still fresh for the survivors and family members.

"My mother and others have been waiting for their loved ones to return for 38 years. They were forced from their homes and people never saw them again, except for some fragments of bone and clothing,” said Rebwar Ramazan, head of Barzani martyrs and Anfal affairs.

A new monument to honour the memories of the dead and missing has been built in Barzan, northern Erbil province. The tear-drop shaped monument represents the tears shed by the mothers who weep for their sons. Construction began in 2012 and it will be opened to the public on Saturday, the 38th anniversary, though there will be no ceremony because of coronavirus restrictions.

Every village in Barzan bears the scars of the genocidal campaign

In the Christian village of Bedyal, two people were killed simply because they wore the red jamana (turban) of their tribe. Georges Yohenna’s brother was one of those killed. He had been told that if he wore a blue turban instead of the Barzan red, his life would be saved. “How can I throw it away? It is my identity. We are Barzanis,” was his brother’s response.

“They took him away like a partridge in a cage and never brought him back,” said Yohenna

The crimes against the Barzan tribe were part of the Baathist regime’s genocidal Anfal campaign to exterminate the Kurds. Anfal – the eighth chapter, or Surah, in the Quran – was the codename used by Baathists for the slaughter. It literally translates as the spoils of war. More than 182,000 people were killed and over 4,500 villages destroyed in eight phases of the Anfal campaign in the 1980s that culminated with the chemical weapon attack on Halabja.

The Iraqi Supreme Court has recognized the Anfal campaign as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, however, the international community is largely yet to do so.

Link to Article - Video:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/27072021

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Kurdish leaders remember Barzani Anfal victims

Kurdistan Region’s leaders on Saturday commemorated the 38th anniversary of the Barzan genocide, calling for compensation for victims

“As we mark this notorious day, we salute the innocent Barzani victims of the Anfal; we pay tribute to all victims of the infamous Anfal campaigns and honor all the fallen heroes of Kurdistan,” President Nechirvan Barzani said on Saturday.

“We reassure the families of the victims that we will spare no efforts to assist them, and that all evidence of the genocide will be collected and documented to help bring about an international recognition of the Anfal campaigns as genocide ... We urge Iraq’s Federal Government to reimburse all the victims,” he added.

On July 31, 1983, an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were rounded up, abducted from their homes in the Zagros Mountains and taken to the deserts of southern Iraq where they were killed on the orders of the Baath regime.

The remains of 596 Barzanis have been found in mass graves in southern Iraq. They were returned home, to the Barzan area where they have been laid to rest in unmarked graves, without being identified through DNA testing. Thousands of others are still missing.

The atrocity was an act of collective punishment of the Barzanis, whose leaders were active in Kurdish revolts against the Iraqi regime. Men and boys were the primary targets, but women, children, and the elderly were all victims. Thirty-eight years later, the wounds are still fresh for the survivors and family members.

The Iraqi Supreme Court has recognized the Anfal campaign as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, however, the international community is largely yet to do so.

“Today, as we commemorate the victims of that genocide, the families of the victims have yet to be compensated by the Iraqi government - even though the Iraqi criminal court has already recognized the Anfal as a genocide,” Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region said. “It is a moral and legal duty of the government to offer compensation to those affected by the crimes against the Kurdish nation.”

“On this day, we reiterate the Kurdistan Regional Government’s commitment to serving the families of Anfal victims and martyrs, and we will do everything in our power to support them.”

On this day in 1983, systematic acts of ethnic cleansing and #genocide committed against 8,000 innocent #Barzani men and boys by the former Ba’athist regime. We remember and honor the victims of this massacre and all other victims of genocidal campaigns across Kurdistan. pic.twitter.com/iVxYItDWOF
— Safeen Dizayee (@SafeenDizayee) July 31, 2021

Iraqi President Barham Salih has called for compensating survivors and unity in preventing similar atrocities.

“Protecting the people’s rights and prevention of the resurgence of dictatorship and criminality needs unity to serve the people facing struggles and the hardships of this age.”

A new monument to honour the dead and missing has been built in Barzan. The tear-drop shaped monument represents the tears shed by the mothers who weep for their sons. Construction began in 2012 and it was opened to the public on Saturday.

The crimes against the Barzan tribe were part of the Baathist regime’s genocidal Anfal campaign to exterminate the Kurds. Anfal – the eighth chapter, or Surah, in the Quran – was the codename used by Baathists for the slaughter. It literally translates as the spoils of war. More than 182,000 people were killed and over 4,500 villages destroyed in eight phases of the Anfal campaign in the 1980s that culminated with the chemical weapon attack on Halabja.

“That crime was committed against the Barzanis, and all the crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan were because they were Kurds defending freedom … But the will of our people was much stronger than violence, intimidation, genocide and Anfal … Therefore, this lesson must become a lesson for the enemies of the people of Kurdistan and give up the chauvinistic mentality and denial towards the oppressed Kurdish nation,” Masoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said in a Facebook statement.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/310720212

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Remains of Barzan genocide victims

The remains of dozens of Barzan genocide victims have been recovered and will return home by the end of this month, an official told Rudaw on Monday

The remains of 100 Barzanis were recovered from Iraq’s southern deserts and will be returned to the Kurdistan Region to lay to rest on July 30, Adel Mala Saleh, spokesperson for the Region’s Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs said.

The remains were identified through DNA testing conducted in Baghdad, Saleh added.

On July 31, 1983, an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were rounded up, abducted from their homes in the Zagros Mountains, and taken to the deserts of southern Iraq where they were killed on the orders of the Baath regime.

The remains of 596 Barzanis have been found in mass graves in southern Iraq. They were returned home, to the Barzan area where they have been laid to rest in unmarked graves, without being identified through DNA testing. Thousands of others are still missing.

The atrocity was an act of collective punishment of the Barzanis, whose leaders were active in Kurdish revolts against the Iraqi regime. Men and boys were the primary targets, but women, children, and the elderly were all victims. Thirty-nine years later, the wounds are still fresh for the survivors and family members.

A new monument to honor the dead and missing have been built in Barzan. The tear-drop shaped monument represents the tears shed by the mothers who weep for their sons. Construction began in 2012 and it was opened to the public last year in July.

The crimes against the Barzan tribe were part of the Baathist regime’s genocidal Anfal campaign to exterminate the Kurds. Anfal - the eighth chapter, or Surah, in the Quran - was the codename used by Baathists for the slaughter. More than 182,000 people were killed and over 4,500 villages were destroyed in eight phases of the Anfal campaign in the 1980s that culminated with the chemical weapon attack on Halabja.

The Iraqi Supreme Court has recognized the Anfal campaign as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. However, the international community is largely yet to do so.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/180720221

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Remains of Barzani Anfal reburied

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The bodies of dozens of Kurdish victims of the former Saddam Hussein regime's atrocities have been exhumed from Iraq's southern desert and will be reburied in the Kurdistan Region's Erbil province on Saturday

The 100 corpses, the identities of whom were determined through DNA testing, will be buried in Erbil's Barzan region. Top officials from the Kurdistan Region will attend the burial.

Barzani civilians, all male, were rounded up in camps by the former Saddam Hussein regime on July 31, 1983, in Erbil. Eight thousand of them were murdered that year. A number of their bodies were found in Iraq's southern desert after that regime was deposed in 2003.

In 2005, a Kurdish team led by the former Kurdistan Region Minister of Human Rights visited remote areas close to Iraq's borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. They were able to uncover the remains of 500 Barzani victims. Those bodies were brought back to Barzan in 2007 and, in the first funeral procession of its kind, reburied in graves there.

The Barzani genocide preceded the Anfal campaign mounted by the Saddam regime against the Kurdish people in the late 1980s.

At least 182,000 Kurdish civilians were killed in the Anfal, and thousands of villages were leveled.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/29 ... 27s-Barzan

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40 years following Barzanis' genocide

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Marking the 40th anniversary of the Barzanis' genocide, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani said Monday that the chauvinistic mindset based on which the genocide was committed still exists

Barzani civilians, all male, were rounded up in camps by the former regime of Saddam Hussein on July 31, 1983, in Erbil. Eight thousand of them were murdered that year. A number of their bodies were found in Iraq's southern desert after that regime was deposed in 2003.

“We still notice chauvinistic mindsets and intentions in the behaviors of a number of people and entities that seek to harm the Kurdish people,” Barzani said in his statement, adding the mindset has been the source of instability in Iraq and the region.

The genocide was part of a “systemic” genocidal campaign committed against the Kurdish people, including forcefully disappearing 12,000 Feyli Kurds, Garmiyan’s Anfal campaign as well as the chemical bombardments of Halabja, the Kurdish leader said, who served as the Kurdistan Region president from 2005 to 2017.

The regime bombarded the Kurdish city of Halabja with chemical bombs, killing around 5,000 people and displacing thousands of others in the late 1980s. Thousands of other civilians were rounded up and displaced from their rural areas as part of the Anfal campaign.

Barzani hailed the generosity and support of the people in Erbil plains for the relatives of the Barzanis who were forcibly disappeared by the former regime.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani similarly marked the 40th anniversary of the genocide, calling on the Iraqi government to compensate the victims according to the constitution.

In 2005, a Kurdish team led by the former Kurdistan Region Minister of Human Rights visited remote areas close to Iraq's borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. They were able to uncover the remains of 500 Barzani victims. Those bodies were brought back to Barzan in 2007 and, in the first funeral procession of its kind, reburied in graves there.

The Barzani genocide preceded the Anfal campaign mounted by the Saddam regime against the Kurdish people in the late 1980s.

At least 182,000 Kurdish civilians were killed in the Anfal campaign, and thousands of villages were leveled

In July last year, at least 100 remains of human bodies were recovered from the southern desert region in Iraq and were buried in the Barzan area in northern Erbil province.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/32 ... KDP-leader