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KRG statement: Crimes of Halabja gassing,
Anfal and Arabisation
17.8.2006
Office of KRG Spokesman Khaled Salih |
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The Kurdistan Regional Government issues the
following statement concerning the crimes that were
committed against the people of Kurdistan by the
Iraqi government.
Erbil, Kurdistan-Iraq, August 17, 2006 – Iraq
(KRG) – The people of Kurdistan have been victims of
internationally recognised crimes against humanity
committed by Iraqi governments, and in particular by
the Ba’ath regime led by Saddam Hussein.
Beginning in the 1970s, the Iraqi government carried
out an Arabisation or ethnic cleansing programme in
Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, and other areas inhabited
by Kurds, Turkmen and other minorities. Non-Arabs
living in Kirkuk were compelled under duress to
change their registered nationality in their
identity documents to the Arab nationality. Those
who refused were forced to leave their homes and
lands, and their properties were confiscated.
Borders were gerrymandered to consolidate the change
in ethnic composition of the governorates. This
Arabisation programme of ethnic cleansing continued
until 2003.
In 1980, the Iraqi government rounded up some 10,000
young Faili Kurds who disappeared without trace. To
this day, their whereabouts are unknown, and it is
feared that they were executed by the Iraqi
government. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Iraqi
government stripped of their nationality and
deported to Iran tens of thousands of Faili Kurds,
and ill treated, detained and/or murdered many other
Faili Kurds.
In 1983, the Iraqi government rounded up some 8,000
boys and men of the Barzani tribe. 22 years after
their disappearance, it has been discovered that
they were imprisoned in concentration camps in the
south of Iraq, executed and buried in mass graves.
At least 182,000 persons from Kurdistan were killed
by the Iraqi government during the 1970s and 1980s.
The majority of these persons were killed from 1987
to 1989 in the genocidal campaign that the regime
officially called Anfal (the Koranic sura justifying
the killing and looting of ‘infidels’). In this
campaign, the Iraqi government abducted and
summarily executed tens of thousands of civilians,
including large numbers of women and children, and
destroyed over 4,500 villages.
On 16 March 1988, the Iraqi military bombarded the
town of Halabja with chemical weapons and nerve
agents, including mustard gas, sarin and tabun,
killing at least 5,000 civilian men, women and
children in one act. The Iraqi military bombarded
with chemical weapons several other villages in
Kurdistan.
In conducting its genocidal campaign, the Iraqi
government destroyed much of the civilian and rural
infrastructure in areas inhabited by Kurds, and
damaged the environment of Kurdistan.
The Iraqi government ruled the people of Kurdistan
through fear, torture and cruelty.
The people of Kurdistan continue to live with the
legacy of suffering. The crimes have left behind a
generation of women who lost their husbands, and
children who lost their fathers, uncles and
grandfathers. The Iraqi government’s acts have
resulted in illnesses from chemical weapons
exposure, unusually high rates of cancer, large
numbers of internally displaced persons, and
families still fighting to reclaim their homes and
lands. Bodies of men, women and children continue to
be unearthed from mass graves. In 2005, forensic
teams unearthed the remains of members of the
Barzani tribe in mass graves. For decades to come,
this horrific period of their history will remain in
the collective memory of the people of Kurdistan.
These policies and crimes were conceived and
conducted by Saddam Hussein and his regime. The
Kurdistan Regional Government has sought and will
continue to seek justice for the victims through
legal, democratic and transparent means. The
Kurdistan Regional Government welcomes the trial of
Saddam Hussein at the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
Justice must be done, and must be seen to be done.
The Kurdistan Regional Government demands that the
Iraqi government compensate the victims of the
crimes committed by Saddam Hussein’s government, as
provided for in the constitution of Iraq.
The Kurdistan Regional Government demands that the
Iraqi government fulfil the provisions set out in
Article 140 of the constitution of Iraq to resolve
the situation in Kirkuk and other Arabised areas.
The Kurdistan Regional Government has and will
continue to use legal, constitutional and democratic
means to seek justice for those whose homes and
lands were confiscated under the Arabisation
programme.
Krg org
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