Recalling the Ba’ath regime's genocidal
Anfal campaign against the Kurds 18 years ago, the KRG’s
Representative to the Nordic states called for the Federal Iraqi
Government to apologise officially and offer victims and their
relatives sufficient compensation.
Taha Barwary the KRG’s Representative to the Nordic countries,
stated, “We have said it before and we say it again, Iraq must face
up to the reality of its modern history. The Anfal campaign is an
inescapable part of this history and the Iraqi government must
assume responsibility for it.”
The KRG is working to reveal the truth of Iraq’s modern history so
that future generations will grow up knowing the fate of the
Kurdistani population.
The trials of Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants are milestones in
uncovering the truth; the former dictator and his aides will be
sentenced using evidence documented by themselves of their own
crimes.
Mr Barwary said, “As we await the start of the trials pertaining to
the Anfal campaign, the KRG will do its outmost to locate the
remains of every victim and return them to their homes,” adding that
“Meanwhile, it is the responsibility of every one of us to ensure
that the Anfal campaign is never forgotten.”
The KRG Nordic Representation is very concerned that the federal
government has so far failed to take sufficient responsibility for
crimes committed against Kurds in the name of the Iraqi state.
Victims and their relatives have not received official apologies or
compensation.
Nor has information been disclosed on the fate of a number of
Kurdish girls and women who were abducted and sold by the Iraqi
government in foreign countries, such as Egypt.
Kurds in the Region as well as in the diaspora have been calling for
the federal government to launch an investigation. They are growing
increasingly frustrated that Baghdad has taken no measures to heal
such wounds.
The Anfal campaign was carried out by the Ba’ath regime between
February and September 1988. Designed to achieve at the very least
the partial extinction and permanent subjugation of the Kurds, the
campaign has left behind a trail of destruction that is still felt
in the Kurdistan Region.
The wholesale destruction of over 4,500 villages and districts; mass
deportations and summary executions; the widespread use of chemical
weapons and the destruction of rural Kurdistan should not be
forgotten at a time when forensic teams are unearthing victims'
bodies in hundreds of mass-graves.
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