Halabja Conference on Kurdish genocide - never trust Iraq

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Anfal survivors still suffering

On the 34th anniversary of the Anfal campaign, a genocidal operation against Iraq’s Kurds at the behest of the country’s former notorious leader Saddam Hussein, survivors continue to demand compensation from the Iraqi government and international recognition of their tragedy as a genocide

The Anfal campaign, named after the eighth surah in the Quran, was the codename for Hussein’s genocide which killed around 182,000 Kurds. The Garmiyan phase of the campaign began on April 14, 1988, and that date is used to commemorate the anniversary of Anfal each year.

“Iraq should compensate the families of Anfal both financially and emotionally, but unfortunately this has not been done yet,” Taimour Abdullah Ahmed, a survivor from the first phase of the campaign in Garmiyan told Rudaw English via a phone call on Saturday.

“Why can Iraq compensate Kuwait, sending trillions of dollars on a yearly basis… while we remain uncompensated,” he added, referring to the war reparations worth $52.4 billion paid by Iraq for its invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Known as Anfal’s Taimour, Abdullah was born in Sulaimani’s Hawara Barza village, and was only 12 when the killing in Garmiyan commenced. Often called the “Anfal Orphan,” Abdullah and his family were separated and taken by Hussein’s army to a number of different villages over the course of a few weeks. Abdullah recalls seeing his mother and sister being shot right before his eyes.

“I saw my mother being shot in the head, dropping the scarf that was covering her hair. I saw my sister being shot on the cheek, with the bullet coming out of the back of her head… Their beautiful faces were covered in blood,” he added.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has presented petitions to the federal government to secure compensation for Anfal survivors and families since 2012, but the federal government has not answered the petitions to date, according to Baravan Hamdi, the administrator of Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, who spoke to Rudaw English via phone call on Wednesday.

The Anfal campaign has been recognized as genocide against Kurds by Iraq, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, and South Korea. Researchers and politicians believe that access to archives from the time could be the key to garnering wider international recognition.

“The KRG are in constant contact with Baghdad regarding the topic of the mass graves, and trying to get the case recognized as genocide,” Bahman Kaka Abdullah, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) MP in the Kurdistan parliament and member of the committee of martyrs, genocide, and political prisoners affairs, told Rudaw English via a phone call on Saturday.

“We, in the martyrs committee, have taken multiple steps, visiting a number of European parliaments in the hopes of creating relationships and gaining recognition for Anfal and the chemical attack as genocide,” he added.

Over five million pages of secret Iraqi police files and documents were captured by Kurdish forces in 1991, recording the full extent of human rights abuses and atrocities committed by Hussein during his time as Iraq’s president.

The original documents were transferred to the US and scanned by the Defense Intelligence Agency, and later acquired by the Archives at the University of Colorado-Boulder where the original documents and a copy have been kept since 1997. Access to these files was made available to researchers around the world seeking to bring Hussein’s violations of human rights to justice.

Human Rights Watch gained access to the files in 1992, putting together one of the most important reports, “Genocide in Iraq - The Anfal Campaign against the Kurds,” detailing the events of the genocidal campaign.

In 2014, the Zheen Archive Center in Sulaimani received a copy of the documents from the University of Colorado-Boulder in a high-level ceremony. The delegation from the Kurdish archive center stated that they hoped the repatriation of these files could help illuminate the “tragic events” that befell the people of the Kurdistan Region under Hussein’s rule.

The original documents in their entirety were quietly sent back to Iraq in August 2020. Baghdad has expressed no intention of releasing the documents to the public, which is disheartening to thousands of Kurdish and Iraqi families who still seek justice for the crimes committed against their loved ones.

Many survivors hope that the archives will give them clues regarding the whereabouts of their missing loved ones.

“Iraq’s Ministry of Culture was the one who received the archives from the US,” Hamdi said, adding that the ministry has not allowed them to view the documents.

The Iraqi parliament recognized Anfal as genocide on April 14, 2008. Military commanders were handed the death sentence, with Ali Hassan Majeed, widely known as “Chemical Ali”, hanged in 2011.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands killed, around 4,500 villages in the Kurdistan Region were demolished during the Anfal campaign

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/130420225

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Renewed compensation calls for Anfal victims

Kurdish leaders on Thursday commemorated the 34th anniversary of the Anfal campaign against the Kurds, renewing their calls for compensation from the Iraqi government for the survivors and families affected by the genocide

Marking a start in 1986, the Anfal campaign killed more than 182,000 Kurds in two years of slaughter by then-president Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime. On April 14, 1988, the campaign began in the Garmiyan area in the south of the Kurdistan Region.

“We ask and reiterate the Iraqi federal government to carry out its legal, moral, and humane duty to compensate the Anfal victims and their families,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement.

Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani joined President Barzani in calling for victims’ compensation “in accordance with the [Iraqi] constitution.”

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani said it is “imperative” and a “matter of moral responsibility” for the Iraqi government to begin the compensation process.

The genocidal Anfal campaign is one of the most inhumane episodes of Iraq’s history during the last century. It is imperative and it is a matter of moral responsibility for the Iraqi state to begin the process of reparations to the families of the victims of this heinous crime.
— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) April 14, 2022

Iraq’s Supreme Court recognized Anfal as a crime against humanity and war in 2008. Years later, very little has been done for the survivors or the families of victims of Anfal.

Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi commemorated the anniversary of Anfal on Thursday, referring to it as a “criminal campaign.”

“We have to keep building our democratic & peaceful Iraq, and combat any action that may bring back dictatorship & aggression,” said Kadhimi.

The KRG in 2012 presented petitions to the federal government to secure compensation for Anfal survivors and families, but the federal government has not answered the petitions to date.

The Anfal campaign has been recognized as genocide against Kurds by Iraq, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, and South Korea. However, President Barzani affirmed the Region’s efforts for the wider international recognition of Anfal as genocide.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands killed, around 4,500 villages in the Kurdistan Region were demolished during the Anfal campaign.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/140420221

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Relatives of victims remains

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The relatives of some of the victims of the Anfal campaign visited Iraq’s Samawah city on the anniversary of the genocide on Thursday, as they sought to find the remains of their loved ones.

The families visited Nugrasalman Citadel in Samawa city of Muthana province, which was used as a prison by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the campaign which began in 1986 and killed more than 182,000 Kurds.

“I wonder what condition they were in, such as thirst and hunger, as they had fallen in the hands of these brutal people,” Said Miheddin, a relative of one of the victims, told Rudaw’s Hunar Hamid.

When the relatives saw a hole, they dug it with the hope of finding the remains of the victims.

Ramazan Rostam, a relative of another victim, said that he was confident that his loved one was in the site they had visited. “We have found their clothes,” he said as he dug a hole with his hands. “This is [a piece of] a woman’s clothing, and they were shot with this bullet. This piece of cloth is rotten. I found it there.”

The campaign was carried out over two years. On April 14, 1988, the campaign reached the Garmiyan area in the south of the Kurdistan Region, with the date of the phase of the campaign used to commemorate the anniversary of Anfal each year.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/140420222

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Click Image to Enlarge:


‘They are all dead’:

HALABJA, Kurdistan Region - Returning home from Friday prayers on a warm April day, 59-year-old Tahir Karim looks through a photo album from his youth. It is a gallery that starts off filled with colorful flowers, smiles, and hope for the future, but makes a sharp turn to death, frowns, and despair following March 16, 1988

On that fateful day, the bombardments and aerial strikes at first seemed like any other for the population of Halabja, a border city that had borne the brunt of the Iraq-Iran war for eight years. But the bombs the Iraqi army rained down carried chemical weapons that killed thousands. The tragedy came to define the city and is the main symbol of Kurdish oppression under the rule of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Karim lost eight immediate family members in the attack. He is one of the survivors known as a “Halabja orphan.” Yet, that was just the beginning of his struggles. He would soon find himself forced back into the Iraqi army, reluctantly fighting for the regime that had massacred his entire family.

The calm before the storm

After graduating from Sulaimani’s School of Teachers in 1984, Karim was drafted into the Iraqi army to fight in the war against Iran. He served in the army for around two and a half years, until he deserted from the service as he did not wish to fight for the oppressor’s regime any longer.

“I had no choice but to desert because I did not see it as a fair war,” Karim told Rudaw English last Friday.

He returned to Halabja in 1987 to live with his family

In the early morning of March 13, 1988, Iranian forces started to heavily bombard the city of Halabja. The Iraqi army was moved into the mountains to fight the Iranian incursion. By the afternoon of March 15, all Iraqi troops had withdrawn from Halabja and the city fell into the hands of the Iranian forces.

At around noon on March 16, the sound of Baathist jets dropping missiles echoed deafeningly throughout the entire city, before abruptly going quiet a few hours later.

“When a jet bombards, there are two loud bursts. Once when the missiles drop, and again when the missiles explode. That afternoon, we felt like the missiles did not explode,” said Karim.
“It was like a normal day, but at the same it was not. It was a quiet day, but not quiet at the same time. It was a calmness that would be followed by a great crime.”

Unbeknownst to Karim and the people of Halabja, the jets were dropping a lethal cocktail of mustard and nerve gasses.

Karim was unable to recognize the odd scent, but from his time in the Iraqi army he knew it was not gunpowder. The realization kicked in when he began experiencing breathing difficulties. Panting, he ran to his family who were sheltering in a bunker, shouting, “It is chemical!”

In search of a breath, he started running with no direction, before falling to his knees and fainting nearly 60 meters away from his house. He would remain unconscious until March 18.

I thought they were asleep

When Karim woke up, he was still lying where he had fallen.

“I had no memory of what happened,” said Karim, “I thought I had been in the plains just a few hours before and I was now coming home.”

In addition to damaging physical health, exposure to mustard gas increases the probability of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological issues.

With blurry vision, he started making his way back home, where he encountered the bodies of three children lying in the street. He did not recognize them, but would later find out that they were the children of the neighbors and relatives who were in the bunker.

“For whatever reason, they had left the bunker. They had come out, but were unable to cross the street. Unfortunately, they would spend their final moments and lose their lives there,” he said.

When he reached the bunker, Karim recalls seeing his family members lying on the floor and slumped against the walls. He thought they were simply asleep and held onto the denial that anything was wrong until he saw his father.

Karim’s father had been a tailor, working in Halabja’s bazaar. He would go to his small shop in the mornings, come home for lunch in the afternoon, and then go back to the bazaar every day.

“I asked myself ‘Why did my father not go to the bazaar?’ I went to wake him up. I thought he might have fallen asleep and nobody was there to wake him up. I went to him and tried to wake him up several times, but he would not answer,” he said.

“I did not realize that all the bodies around me were dead.”

Perplexed, he ran out of the bunker. He recalls vaguely seeing one of his neighbors, Haji Mahmoud, and calling out to him for help. The neighbor, with a look of terror on his face, ran away and did not answer the call, adding to Karim’s confusion.

Karim next moved towards the house of his grandfather, an elderly man who usually spent most of his day home, in hopes of gaining some clarity about what had happened.

“He opened the door, and I started talking to him. ‘Where were you? Where are you going?’ he asked me. I told him I came from home to visit you. ‘What about your family?’ he asked. I told him they were asleep at home… ‘What do you mean by sleep? Have you gone crazy?’ he replied… ‘They are not asleep. They are all dead.’”

In a state of disbelief and despair, Karim was unable to sleep for days and remembers losing control of his body, unconsciously walking to different places before being stopped by his grandfather and brought back to the house.

Upon the recommendation of his grandfather and other surviving relatives, Karim surrendered himself to Iranian forces in Halabja a few weeks later, in hopes of seeking treatment in the neighboring country.

Tahir Karim (left) with his cousins in northern Iran in 1988. “We do not have any photos where we’re smiling because we were still in shock,” said Karim.

In Iran, Karim was sent to a Kermanshah hospital and then spent 22 days in a hospital in Tehran, before eventually deciding to leave the hospital.

He recalls meeting people from Halabja in Iran who would tell him that others have seen members of his family alive after the attack, but Karim, who had personally seen the dead bodies of his parents and all six siblings, knew that was not the truth.

On September 6, 1988, Saddam Hussein’s regime announced a general amnesty for all Kurds, promising safe passage and a return home for all who had left in hopes of escaping the dictator’s reign of terror.

Karim, like thousands others, was eager to return home, to start anew and bring an end to the most agonizing six months of his life. However, the road would prove to be much thornier than he had anticipated.

We were lied to

Trick amnesties and false promises were tactics repeatedly used by the Baath regime throughout its genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds.

When he arrived at the border back from Iran, Karim was captured and forced back into the Iraqi army where he would serve another three years.

“When you have no other options… you have to comply with their orders, otherwise they’ll kill you,” he said.

Karim stayed awake for nights on end, filled with sorrow and rage as he had to endure the cruel imposition of fighting for a regime that brutally killed his entire family.

Frustrated, Karim and his friend Azad tried to escape from the military camp, heading towards Saudi Arabia, in September of 1990.

The two walked all night, eventually reaching a building they presumed to be Saudi, but was in fact an Iraqi military post.

“As they [soldiers] came towards us, my friend had the physical stamina, but I do not have the stamina to run because I have been exposed to chemical weapons. I have difficulty breathing after a short walk. He [Azad] ran away and crossed the border, but when he saw I was captured he reluctantly returned, because he knew if he ran away, I would be hanged,” Karim recounted.

Karim and Azad were violently punished, including electrocution, by the Iraqi army and were imprisoned for nearly two months for attempting to desert.

Wishing for death, Karim recalls having a breakdown in front of Lieutenant Abdulsalam, one of the military officers who interrogated him after he was captured and turned out to be a guardian angel in disguise.

“I told him ‘I am tired of you, the Iraqi army, Saddam Hussein, the government, Iraq, everything.’ He told me that ‘This statement will take you right to the grave… You are young. I hope you change this statement because it will ruin your life’.”

Abdulsalam changed the statements of Karim and Azad. He told the investigative board that the two had been looking for the post of a different nearby Iraqi brigade. This, combined with a fabricated alibi, led to the case being closed and ultimately saved the lives of Karim and Azad.

“He was a good man,” said Karim.

New beginnings

In February 1991, Karim surrendered himself to the US army, who transferred him to Saudi Arabia, where he would remain for the next four years.

He had a strong asylum case and met with American representatives in Saudi Arabia and migrated to the United States in 1995. He moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where he worked as a butcher.

Tahir Karim in Virginia circa 1997-1998

Karim came back to Halabja to get married and start a family in 1999.

He gained US citizenship in 2001, but chose to permanently return to Halabja in 2008. He said he did not want to lose his identity and wanted to raise his children with Kurdish values.

“If I stay in the US for the rest of my life, I would become a citizen of that country, an American citizen. My children would be US-born. My children then would not say that they are a Muslim Kurd from Iraq. They would say ‘I’m an American.’ At that point, I lose my identity. I have lost myself,” he said.

He now lives with his wife and seven children in the house where his grandfather delivered the devastating news of his family’s death to him in 1988.

Traumatized

Similar to thousands of other survivors, Karim still suffers from severe health problems caused by the chemical attack, including irritation in his lungs, leading to coughing and shortness of breath.

His exposure to the gas and all that he endured has also taken a toll on his mental health. He has difficulties sleeping at night and has anger issues.

“I see a lot of things in my dreams. I also abruptly wake up several times at night on a regular basis. Early on in my marriage, my wife used to tell me that she was scared of how I was abruptly waking up at night,” he said.

Karim finds some solace in tending to his modest garden in Halabja with the help of his children.

Between 3,200 and 5,000 people lost their lives in the chemical attack on Halabja, according to a 1992 report by Human Rights Watch. The was part of the Anfal campaign, the codename for Hussein’s genocide that killed around 182,000 Kurds.

The Garmiyan phase of the campaign in southern Kurdistan Region began on April 14, 1988, and every year on that date, Kurds commemorate the tragedy of the Anfal genocide.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/130420232

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Kurdish leaders commemorate

Anfal genocide

On the 35th anniversary of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal campaign against Kurds, Kurdistan Region leaders called for compensation for the victims

Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, paid tribute to the victims in a statement, saying that the Region’s autonomy is possible because of their sacrifices. He called for greater international recognition of Anfal to prevent the recurrence of such a tragedy.

“The constitutional status of the Kurdistan Region is the outcome of the struggle of hundreds of thousands of fallen heroes of horrendous crimes such as Anfal, chemical attacks and the sacrifices of the people of Kurdistan,” read his statement.

The Anfal campaign, named after the eighth surah in the Quran, was the codename for Saddam Hussein’s genocide that killed around 182,000 Kurds.

The president urged the Iraqi federal government to reimburse victims and their families, adding that the survivors should be provided with “greater and better services.”

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 Anfal crime, was a brutal genocide, not only against the people of Kurdistan, but rather against all human and moral values,” said Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani in a statement on Friday.

The Kurdish premier also called on Baghdad to carry out “its moral and constitutional responsibilities” by compensating the victims and helping Erbil to provide greater services for their families.

Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid said the anniversary is a time for solidarity to consolidate a democratic state that works towards serving the interests of the people.

Diplomatic missions in the Kurdistan Region also shared statements of commemoration.

“We affirm our duty to remember this genocide & other horrific events, [including] ISIS genocide, so that we can make sure they never happen again,” tweeted the US consulate general.

“This April 14, we honour the memory of the victims of the Anfal operations, a campaign to exterminate the Kurdish population by the Baathist regime,” tweeted French Consul General Olivier Decottignies.

Britain's Minister of State for the Middle East Lord Tariq Ahmad said "We must never forget the inhumane nature of Saddam Hussein’s monstrous crimes. My thoughts are with the families of those who were killed and the survivors who are still living with unimaginable, life-changing consequences."

The Garmiyan phase of the 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 each year.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/14042023

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Remembering chemical bombardment

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday posted a message and video commemorating the chemical attack on Balisan, Sheikh Wasanan, and Koshnawati Valley

“Today marks the day, 36 years ago, that hundreds of Kurds were slain by Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons,” PM Barzani wrote in a tweet.

“The massacre was a focal point of the genocide. It will never be forgotten,” he added.

“We grieve the lives lost and families destroyed. We honor their memory,” Barzani concluded.

Today marks the day 36 years ago that hundreds of Kurds were slain by Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons.

The massacre was a focal point of the genocide. It will never be forgotten.

We grieve the lives lost and families destroyed. We honor their memory. pic.twitter.com/LaoZ0Ilxig
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) April 16, 2023

On April 16, 1987, the former Ba’athist regime carried out a brutal attack, with the use of chemical weapons, against the innocent civilian population in Balisan, Sheikh Wasanan, and Koshnawati Valley. At least 265 people were killed in the attack.

Earlier today, the Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) also commemorated the brutal attack and called it an “unforgettable crime.”

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... ati-Valley

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Qaladze bombardment tragedy

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday commemorated the 49th anniversary of the Qaladze bombardment and the shooting of protestors in the early 1980s

“We pay special tributes to the martyrs of Qaladze bombardment and all the Kurdish nation's martyrs,” Barzani said in a tweet, commemorating the 49th anniversary of the town’s bombardment and shooting of the protestors years later.

The premier shared a short graphic video explaining the tragedy along with the tweet.

On Apr. 24, 1974, the Iraqi Ba'ath regime dropped napalm bombs on the border town of Qaladze, where the University of Sulaimani was located. More than a hundred people were killed in the attack, including students and lecturers.

Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them.

The tragedy was “another chapter” of the former Ba’ath regime’s atrocities, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani said in a tweet.

The bombardment was a “futile attempt” by the dictatorial regime to break the will of the Kurdish people and their liberation movement, President Nechirvan Barzani of the Kurdistan Region said.

The former regime, which was toppled in 2003 by a US-led coalition and Kurdish forces, had committed numerous atrocities against the Iraqi people, particularly the Kurds, including the chemical bombardments of Halabja and the ethnic cleansing campaign of Anfal.

Following his surrender to the American forces, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was tried in court for crimes against humanity and other gross violations. He was executed in December 2006 in Baghdad.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... nt-tragedy

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Qaladze bombardment

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Commemorating the 49th anniversary of the bombardment of Qaladze town by the former Ba’athist regime, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani on Monday said the tragedy was just "another chapter" of the atrocities of the former regime

On Apr. 24, 1974, the Iraqi Ba’athist regime dropped napalm bombs on the border town of Qaladze, where the University of Sulaimani was located. Hundreds were killed in the attack, including students and lecturers.

“The tragedy was a colossal oppression of the Kurdish people and marked another chapter of the Ba'ath regime's atrocities,” Barzani wrote in a tweet, paying tribute to those who were killed by the attack.

On the 49th anniversary of the bombing of the city of Qaladiza and the University of Sulaimani in the hands of the totalitarian Ba’th regime, I would like to pay my respects to the souls of the lost. The will of the people Kurdistan proved then and continues to prove to be…
— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) April 24, 2023

"The will of the people of Kurdistan proved then and continues to prove to be stronger than cruelty and injustice," the former president of the Kurdistan Region added.

Years later, in 1982, when local people of the town held a demonstration commemorating the massacre, the regime violently cracked down on them, killing two women: Mother Amina and Sister Mahmood.

The former regime, which was toppled in 2003 by a US-led coalition and Kurdish forces, had committed numerous atrocities against the Iraqi people, particularly the Kurds, including the chemical bombardments of Halabja and the ethnic cleansing campaign of Anfal.

Following his surrender to the American forces, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was tried in court for crimes against humanity and other gross violations. He was executed in December 2006 in Baghdad.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... DP-Barzani

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Anfal genocide 35 years on

For the second year in a row, a number of relatives of Anfal victims and Anfal survivors themselves visited the mass graves and Nugra Salman castle, a remote prison fortress in southern Iraq. A photography exhibition dedicated to the victims was also opened this year

Marking a start in 1986, the Anfal campaign killed more than 182,000 Kurds in two years of slaughter by then-president Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime. On April 14, 1988, the campaign began in the Garmiyan area in the south of the Kurdistan Region

The exhibition featured photographs of a significant number of children who were affected by the Anfal campaign.
“We have tried to turn Nugra Salman castle, where thousands of Kurds were imprisoned and some of them later massacred, into a permanent museum to remain as a historical evidence,” Srwa Mohammed, a member of the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw.

Nugra Salman is a former prison fortress in the deserts of Muthanna province in southern Iraq. It served as a concentration camp during the former Iraqi Baathist regime’s Anfal campaign.

Iraq’s Supreme Court recognized Anfal as a crime against humanity and war in 2008. Years later, very little has been done for the survivors or the families of victims of Anfal.

In addition to the hundreds of thousands killed, around 4,500 villages in the Kurdistan Region were demolished during the Anfal campaign.

“The aim of opening this exhibition is to show that innocent Kurdish children of no crimes and of different ages were killed during the Anfal campaign, just because they were Kurds,” researcher Simko Sabir said.

“There were children who were only one day old and were massacred,” he added.

Link to Photos:

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/160520231

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Kakai yoghurt festival

HALABJA, Kurdistan Region - A local yoghurt festival was held in a village in Halabja province earlier this week. The festival is the fourth of its kind and celebrates a historical tradition observed by the Kakais called the Day of Giving

The celebration is aimed at promoting unity and coexistence between the different components that live together. The yoghurt is known as Qalate yoghurt, named after a village nearby.

During the festival, religious and artistic activities are organized for the participants while they enjoy the local product.

Amira Fatah, a participant, told Rudaw’s Sazgar Salah on Sunday that “this is a religious ceremony that belongs to us.”

This ceremony had been held years before, but it's been four years since we started doing it every year,” Fatah added.

Kakais are followers of the Yarsan religion, an ancient faith local to Iran and Iraq.

Many Muslims also take part in these festivities in support of their Kakai neighbors.

“Giving is one of the religious principles of the Yarsan religion and has been repeated in other religions. We want our culture to be alive and to hold this ceremony every year,” Ako Shawais, a member of the Kaki community, said.

Shawais also spoke about the importance of inviting the Muslims members of the community in order to promote coexistence and unity.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/18052023

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Compensate Families of Anfal Victims

Top Kurdish leaders on Friday paid tribute to the victims of Anfal campaign in Badinan 35 years ago, and called for the implementation of Article 132 of the Iraqi constitution, which demands that families of Anfal victims be fairly compensated

"On the anniversary of the Anfal campaign in Badinan, we pay our respects to the martyrs and victims of Anfal, and reiterate that the Iraqi government should compensate for the genocide, crimes, and injustices committed against our nation," Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in a similar statement noted: "The crime of Anfal is recognized by the Iraqi High Criminal Court as genocide, crime against humanity and war crime. Therefore, we reiterate that the Iraqi government must compensate the families of the victims as soon as possible; more services must be provided to the families of the victims and every effort should be made to document the crime of Anfal and make it internationally recognized as genocide."

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also urged authorities in the federal government of Iraq to compensate victims of the genocide campaigns committed by the former Iraqi regime.

“On this occasion, we reiterate that it is a fair right of the people of Kurdistan, families of the victims of the former Iraqi regime in particular, to be fairly compensated and reassured that they will not face genocide again,” the Prime Minister added.

During the Anfal campaign in Badinan area, thousands of innocent people were subjected to a ruthless campaign of abduction, disappearance, and mass murder under the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein 35 years ago.

The campaign also led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people as well as the destruction of hundreds of villages in Badinan due to Saddam Hussein’s use of banned weapons of mass destruction.

The Kurds suffered greatly under Saddam Hussein's Baath regime, enduring multiple genocidal campaigns. These included the tragic Halabja chemical bombardment that claimed the lives of over 5,000 innocent people, the abduction and subsequent murder of 8,000 Barzanis in the 1980s, and the notorious Anfal campaign which resulted in the deaths of approximately 182,000 Kurds.

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/821218

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Exhibition celebrates Halabja
By Wladimir van Wilgenburg

Erbil (Kurdistan 24) – An exhibition later this week will celebrate the art and culture of the Kurdish city of Halabja. The exhibition is organised by the UK cultural charity Gulan and hosted by the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) in Duhok

'Halabja in the Golden Days' opens at the American University of Kurdistan, Duhok, with free entry to the public on 18th-19th and 21st-23rd October, 10am - 5pm. A series of related events includes an illustrated talk and performances of poetry and music:https://t.co/p02iCssoUO pic.twitter.com/6ZAdA2AOYX
— GulanCharity (@GulanCharity) October 10, 2023

“The exhibition Halabja in the Golden Days celebrates Halabja as it was before Anfal, when it was renowned for its history and culture. Halabja was also famous for its parks, orchards and agricultural produce. The city produced many poets, the most famous being Abdullah Goran, the father of modern Kurdish poetry,” the Gulan charity said in a press release.

“Through this exhibition and related programme of events, we hope to show that there was much more to Halabja than just the terrible events of 1988. We want to celebrate the great diversity of culture that existed before Anfal and build support for a cultural renaissance in Halabja,” Richard Wilding, Gulan’s creative director, told Kurdistan 24.

On March 16, 1988, Iraqi warplanes dropped chemical weapons on the civilian areas in the city of Halabja, killing around 5,000 people and injuring almost 10,000 others. The attack was part of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurdish people in the 1980s.

Gulan and its partners have interviewed residents of Halabja with the aim of creating a series of narratives that delve into the city's dynamic cultural scene, encompassing art, theater, music, and sports.

Furthermore, these narratives are enhanced by scholarly essays that provide insights into Halabja's poetry and traditional clothing, all prominently showcased on large information boards within the exhibition.

In addition, the exhibition features a captivating presentation of Kurdish attire, thoughtfully organized by Della Murad, Gulan’s artistic director, and a diverse collection of artworks from numerous Kurdish artists.

In addition, an impressive, expansive art installation conceived by Mariwan Jalal is to be showcased to the audience.

“We hope to create a platform for the people still living in Halabja to talk with pride about their culture. We also hope to give the Kurdish diaspora who fled Halabja an opportunity to celebrate their history and identity,” the Gulan Charity said.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. on the 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/32 ... olden-Days

[Anthea]

Lack of blood units in Halabja

ERBIL, Kurdistan - Mohammed Salam suffers from a blood disorder known as thalassemia and needs weekly blood transfusions to keep it under control. However, only one such center exists in the Kurdistan Region’s Halabja and it faces shortages of blood supplies

Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder which requires transfusions to provide the body with more red blood cells to carry oxygen.

"In the past, we always used to go to Sulaimani for blood transfusion at the Sulaimani Thalassemia Center, because there were no thalassemia centers here in Halabja. Whenever an unfavorable situation would happen, we would have to go to Sulaimani once again.

The thalassemia-affected patients will face health difficulties and lose energy without blood transfusion for one week, in which they cannot even walk," Salam Kakabra, Mohammed's father told Rudaw's Sazgar Salah over the weekend.

Mohammed desperately calls on locals to donate blood at the Halabja thalassemia center.

"I am calling on those who donate blood to visit this canter's blood bank," Mohammed said, adding "Sometimes they run out of blood and this creates health issues for us if we do not have blood transfusions on time."

The head of the thalassemia center points out that they have never seen their blood bank as empty as it has been recently.

"We have never been without blood at our bank ever since 2019," Zeyad Ghafar said, adding they have launched a campaign for blood donations to their center.

"We have launched a campaign in order to receive the required amount of blood in our center," Ghafar said, noting "We need 60 to 70 blood units for a month."

Satar Fayaq, another blood donor and local of Halabja echoed the sentiment that what they do is a responsibility.

"I saw the announcement and decided to come to donate blood. I am a veteran wounded Peshmerga soldier. I came to help alleviate some of the burdens on them [the families of the thalassemia patients]," Fayaq added.

The Halabja blood bank was established in 2017 and they need 300 blood units every month for patients of all kinds.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/23102023

[Anthea]

Over 10 Mass Graves in Iraq

There are 11 mass graves identified in various Iraqi provinces, awaiting excavation. The process, however, has been stalled due to the delay in conducting DNA testing on the recovered bodies

Speaking to BasNews, Shuan Kalari, a member of the Iraqi parliament representing the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), highlighted the atrocities committed during Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime in the 1980s.

He emphasized that a substantial number of civilians fell victim to the regime's brutal policies and were buried in mass graves.

While some of these mass graves have been excavated since the liberation of Iraq, Kalari expressed concern that the work done so far has not been adequate, and there are still 11 more mass graves awaiting proper excavation.

However, a significant obstacle has arisen as the Iraqi government has explained that the bodies need to undergo DNA testing in Baghdad's forensic medicine department before being sent back to their hometowns for proper burial.

Unfortunately, this testing process has experienced a four-year delay due to various reasons, the Kurdish lawmaker noted.

Kalari expressed the intention to meet with relevant parties to discuss and expedite the situation, emphasizing the urgency of addressing this issue. He highlighted the necessity of bringing closure to the families of victims and ensuring the proper burial of the remains of those who suffered under the Ba'ath regime.

The atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime during the 1980s led to the massacre of tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians, including women and children. Most of these victims were buried in mass graves located in the southern and western deserts of Iraq.

The excavation of these mass graves serves as a crucial step in acknowledging the painful history of Iraq and providing closure to the affected families.

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/829246