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British MPs and KRG minister mark 20th
anniversary of Kurdish genocide
21.3.2008
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March 21, 2008
LONDON, UK, – Dr Kim Howells, Britain's
Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East, on
Tuesday joined fellow members of the British
parliament and the Kurdistan Regional Government's
minister for genocide affairs in commemorating the
20th anniversary of the chemical attack on Halabja.
Dr Howells and Ms Chnar Saad Abdullah, the KRG
Minister for Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, were joined
by Ms Ann Clwyd, the Prime Minister's Envoy to Iraq
on Human Rights. They were invited to mark the
occasion in parliament by Ms Sarah McCarthy-Fry, MP
and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for
the Kurdistan Region.
Dr Howells recalled the "apolyptic images" seen
around the world of the suffering of the people of
Kurdistan under the Baathist regime. |
Chnar Saad Abdullah Minister of Martyrdom and Anfal
Affairs (L), Dr Kim Howells, Britain's Foreign
Office Minister for the Middle East |
He said, "We have to
work together to ensure that those people [who
perpetrated such crimes] will find nowhere to hide."
He added that he saw "a very bright future for the
Kurdish people...Kurdistan could be one of the
richest places in the world and I'm confident one
day it will be because there's a real determination
there."
Ms Saad Abdullah asked British members of parliament
to recognise Saddam’s Anfal campaign as genocide and
to continue supporting Iraq’s new democracy so that
genocide will never be allowed to happen again in
the country.
Ms McCarthy-Fry, who visited the Kurdistan Region
for the first time last month, said, “I have a
thriving Kurdish community in my constituency in
Portsmouth. On Sunday they planted a tree on the
seafront to remember the Anfal genocide and the
chemical attack on Halabja.”
She added, “When I visited Kurdistan I saw that
Kurds don’t want to be victims, they have a huge
goodwill to be great again and they can become a
beacon for Iraq.”
The Anfal Affairs Minister said that half a million
people in the Kurdistan Region have signed a
petition asking that the Anfal and the chemical
bombing of Halabja be remembered in the UK and
Europe. She also asked for the UK,www.ekurd.net
which has a strong
record of providing humanitarian assistance, to help
survivors who still suffer from health and
psychological consequences.
Ms Clwyd MP, a longstanding friend of the Iraqi
people who has visited the Region many times, said,
“One year ago when I was in the Kurdistan Region,
another mass grave was found near Halabja. Every
time I go to Iraq some new mass graves are
uncovered, secrets that the former regime wanted to
hide. Many graves have yet to reveal their secrets.”
Dr Howells talked about the destruction of 4,500
villages during the Anfal campaign that devastated
Kurdistan’s rich agricultural heritage.
He said, “For me to go to the north of Iraq and see
some of the damage done by the destruction of the
villages was a revelation. (The Ba’ath governement’s)
forced collectivisation combined with the corrupt UN
oil-for-food programme also meant that 1,000 years
of agricultural expertise was stopped…Kurdistan can
rediscover that great tradition, looking to
countries like the UK to learn how to make
agriculture easier and mechanised.”
He added, “We must not betray democracy and must
bring the murderers to justice. We must make sure
that what happened in 1988 never happens again.”
The meeting was also attended by Ms Bayan Sami Abdul
Rahman, KRG High Representative to the UK, members
of parliament Mr Rob Marris, Dr Julian Lewis, Ms Lyn
Brown and Ms Sharon Hodgson, and members of the
Kurdish community.
krg org
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