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National Kurdish anthem should have been played first, not
the Quran in the ceremony which mourns victims of Anfal Genocide |
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: ekurd.net, Dana Berzinjy |
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Kurd Net
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National Kurdish anthem should have been played
first, not the Quran in the ceremony which mourns
victims of Anfal Genocide
15.1.2008
By Dana Berzinjy - eKurd.net contributing writer |
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January 15, 2008
Sydney, Dana Berzinjy, (eKurd.net), -- I was
watching The Kurdish TV Channel Kurdsat, when the
Ceremony Mourns Victims of Anfal Genocide which
started from Erbil, Kurdistan Region Government in
Iraq. It was on Monday, 14th January 2008, the
ceremony was for 371 Kurdish victims. A genocidal
campaign under Saddam Hussein, the Former executed
Dictator started in 1988 against the Kurds in Iraq.
The Kurds and the World should not forget this kind
of Genocide and the other genocides like the Jewish
genocide by Hitler, and the Armenian Genocide by the
Turkish Dictator Ata-Turk.
One thing I did not like was when an Imam started to
read a verse of Quran, before Kurdish national
Anthem, but I believe the Kurdish Authority or the
person was in charge of organizing should not let
the Quran be first, the Kurdish National Anthem
should have priority than anything else. |
Dana
Berzinjy |
I want to say its
shame on the person that organized it, and put it
first. Because our issue is not about religion, is
about our existence as a nation. We need to remember
that those victims were killed, under the command of
religion, and the verse of Anfal from Quran had
played a major role in the mass killing. Islamic
religion was imposed on us, at that time, we did not
have a choice, but now we do. We should not forget
the past, and ignore our own religion like
Zoroastrian, and the Holy Book of Avesta. If the
Kurdish authority is so keen about the Islamic
religion, and want to become their Symbol, they need
to think about translating Quran to Kurdish, because
more than 95% of the Kurdish population don’t know
how to read Quran, and don’t know what it means. The
Anfal victims were Kurds not Arabs, and they could
not speak and understand Arabic. The Ceremony went
well especially the Kurdish Anthem, and other
national and March Songs. But at the end was a bit
out of formality.
During that brutal campaign more than 182,000 Kurds
killed, and chemical gas and other methods of murder
were used against those victims. Our villages were
flattened and burnt down to the ground, and
thousands of Kurds were forced into camps during
1988 the Anfal campaign. Kurdish and the Iraqi
political leaders, and foreign consulars attended
the formal ceremony as 371 Kurdish flag covered
coffins were laid out in neat rows in a big
commercial storehouse in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi
Kurdistan. The timber coffins enclosed the remainder
of Kurds found in four mass graves near the northern
cities of Mosul, Duhok, Sulaimaniyah, and the
southern city of Samawa. Everyone had been
identified and will be reburied in a cemetery in
Sulaimaniyah on Wednesday according to the news. But
I believe that the Kurdish authority should bury
those victims and their remains in a special place
like Halabja. Their bodies should not be returned to
the relatives of the victims, or an individual
victim to be given to any families. Due to that
those victims became Kurdish National Identity. The
Kurdish Authority should bury all the Anfal victims
in one place, with their photos, and call them
(Kurdish National Anfal Cemetery). It should become
the place of unknown solder, and when foreign
diplomatic people visit the Iraqi Kurdistan, first
they should visit them, and put a crown of flowers
under the memorial.
When I was on an excursion with my students to the
city in Sydney, we went to one of the buildings of
the convicts that they came to Australia in the
beginning of establishment of the Australian Colony
by England in 1887. If I tell you something you will
be surprised, what have been kept in that old
Museum, seeds of peaches and the skins of mice are
kept. They become part of Australia’s history. I
believe the KRG, should keep the belongings of those
victims, and build a big Museum under the name of
the (The Museum of Kurdish Anfal Victims). If the
authority could do that, we can attract the
attention of the World to see our struggle, and the
crimes that committed against our nation and the
humanity by our oppressors.
The ceremony was showed on TV from 7 pm until to
8:45 pm on Monday, it made me cry, and I felt a lot
of pain; I could not stop my tears. I agitated and
felt bad, they were killed by the enemy, and they
had done nothing wrong, and they are innocent
victims of the former Saddam’s brutal Regime. They
are now at home, and embracing the free Kurdistan,
and their spirits now flying around Kurdistan and
around their families, in the ceremony and in their
houses. Those innocent and others victims never die,
and they stay in the hearts of our nation and in our
minds forever.Those people had committed the
Genocide, and directly participated in unforgettable
crimes against our nation and the whole World, are
Ali Hassan Al- Majeed, the former Defense Minister
and Sultan Hashem the Former Army Commander Hussein
Rashid Muhammad have been convicted of genocide over
the Anfal campaign. They are still in U.S. military
detention. Those criminals should have been hanged
two months ago, but the Iraqi President Galal
Talabani, did not sign the execution paper, and
defended Sultan Hashem, and said he had no choice
when he committed the crime, he was under the
pressure. I want to say many Arab Leaders during
Saddam Hussein left the Arab Baath Socialist Party,
if Sultan Hashem was a good man, and was innocent he
shouldn’t have participated in the crime, and he
could have escaped easily.
The Iraqi Court has already issued the execution
order according to law and his criminal intention.
So, there is no point for any Iraqi or Kurdish
leaders to defense the criminal people who
participated in the Anfal Campaign. The Iraqi
leaders need to separate and respect the laws in
Iraq without involving in their independence. Any
one who committed crimes against the Iraqi people
should be treated equally before the law, and no one
should have a right to play games under different
names and excuses. The criminals should face the
reality, and they should be responsible for their
behavior and actions. They should be executed
according to the Iraqi law. The court has already
decided on their fate, and the Iraqi leaders need to
respect that. In addition to that, the Chemical Ali
also has held liable for his involvement in the mass
killing of thousands of innocent Shiite people in
South of Iraq during the Gulf War, and even after
the war for the Shiite up rising in 1991.
Dana Berzinjy,
a freelance writer,
Sydney/Australia,
January 15, 2008, Exclusively for eKURD.NET
©. You may reach the author via
email at: danaberzinjy (at) ekurd.net
About the Author: Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary)
Faculty of Education {University of Western Sydney
macarthur} 2001-2002. Postgraduate Diploma in Adult
Education (Teaching English of Speakers Other
Languages) Faculty of Education {University of
Western Sydney macarthur} 1999-2001. Postgraduate
Diploma in Business ( Employment Relations Law)
Faculty of Business ( University of Technology
Sydney) 1997-1999. Bachelor of Business (Commerce
and Human Resource management) ( Southern Cross
University) 1992-1996 Lismore
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