Translation and subtitles by Sarkawt Mohammed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — “They stripped the men...they had brought many handcuffs, but not enough. We watched them, as they took our men’s long Kurdish belts, and cut them into two or three pieces to use to bind the men. They tortured them until night fell.” said Saadiya Khurshid Majid of her experience during the Anfal campaign, a brutal Iraqi military operation launched by Saddam Hussein against the Kurdish people in the eighties.
Saadiya’s story is just one of many that continues to haunt the Kurdistan Region.
Rudaw has collected the testimonies of several survivors to be released in a seven-part series, entitled “The Anfal Files”.
Anfal, the eighth chapter, or Surah, in the Quran, was the codename used by Baathists for the slaughter. Ceremonies are usuall held each year on April 14 to mark its anniversary. Tuesday marks 32 years since the conclusion of the slaughter, which killed more than 182,000 people.
But as the Kurdistan Region enters its 32nd day of a lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, commemoration ceremonies are not expected.
President Nechirvan Barzani released a statement in remembrance of all those affected by the campaign.
“As we remember the victims and all fallen heroes of Kurdistan, it is crucial that we make all efforts to prevent the repetition of such genocidal crimes in Kurdistan or any other place in the world. It is also the Iraqi government’s moral and legal obligation to provide reparations to the families of the victims,” reads the statement.
The Anfal campaign took place over eight phases — beginning in 1986, reaching its peak in 1988 with the Halabja genocide that resulted in 5,000 people instantly killed in a chemical gas attack and another 10,000 injured. The massacre reached its peak in the closing weeks of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88).
The KRG has provided assistance to Anfal survivors and their relatives, including housing and tuition fees for studies.
The Iraqi Supreme Court has officially recognized the Anfal Campaign as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, however, the international community is largely yet to do so.
Erbil has also made efforts to secure global recognition of the Anfal as an act of genocide, and return the remains of victims from mass graves in Iraq’s southern and central deserts for reburial in the Kurdistan Region.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment