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Families pay a visit to the graves of their loved ones who were killed in the Halabja chemical attack on March 16, 2022. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Senior Kurdish officials on Wednesday commemorated the 34th anniversary of the chemical attack on Halabja, renewing their calls of action for the survivors of the tragedy.
“With the utmost reverence, we remember more than 5,000 martyrs of Halabja and we honorably bow down to their pure souls. Thirty-four years ago, and in one of the most horrific crimes in history, they fell victims to the Iraqi regime at the time, where they were massacred with impermissible chemical weapons,” Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in an official statement.
The President also directed his renewed calls on Iraq to compensate the victims of the chemical attack and urged the international community to ban the use of weapons of mass destruction.
“We call on Iraq’s state as its duty and legal responsibility to compensate the families and relatives of the martyrs, the victims who are still alive, and Halabja’s environment,” he added.
On the last days of the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war, warplanes of the former regime of Saddam Hussein rained down a lethal cocktail of chemical weapons on the city Halabja on March 16, 1988, killing at least 5,000 people, mostly women and children, and injuring hundreds of others. The event, which was recognized as an act of genocide by Iraq's High Court in 2010, has left a permanent scar in the historical memory of the Kurdish people.
The attack was part of a longer genocidal campaign against Iraq’s Kurds by the Baathist regime that continues to resonate in the mind of Kurds to this day.
Remembering the brutal death of thousands of Kurds, the Region’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also called for the victims of Halabja to be compensated.
“We reaffirm that the Iraqi government needs to fulfill its moral duty of compensating the relatives of the martyrs, those wounded and harmed by the Halabja chemical attack,” read the premier’s statement.
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani said the will of Kurds is “stronger than chemical weapons, fighter aircraft, and missiles.”
Overthrown in 2003, former Iraqi President Hussein was hanged in 2006 and was sentenced to death for the massacre of over 100 Shiite Iraqis. His death put an end to proceedings against him for the genocide of around 180,000 Kurds, including those killed in Halabja, during the ruthless Anfal campaign launched by the dictator.
Attacking the city with a mix of mustard gas, Tabun, Sarin, and VX, around 10,000 people were injured and thousands of others sought refuge in neighboring Iran, while dozens continue to suffer from long-term health problems to this day.
“I lost all my body parts. I wish I was dead … especially during this time of the year, this month {March] is so tiring,” Runak Mohammed, a survivor of the attack told Rudaw.
Mustard gas is a blistering agent that can cause severe burns and blisters on direct contact with the skin. It can also have a devastating effect on the neurological system.
Diplomatic missions on Wednesday attended a ceremony in Halabja to commemorate the deadly attack.
“I am here to pay our respects, to commemorate those who lost their lives, and to send our thoughts and condolences to those left behind and to those who have lasting and terrible injuries,” the British Consul General to Erbil, David Hunt, told Rudaw from Halabja.
US Consul General to Erbil Robert Palladino also extended his "sincerest condolences" to the victims of the attack, while stressing that such tragedies should never be allowed to happen again.
Remaining an unhealed wound, Kurds also commemorated Halabja on social media while using the hashtag #HalabjaGenocide.
I made this video in loving memory of the victims of the Halabja Chemical Attack. It was part of the Anfal Campaign, where more than 182,000 Kurdish civilians were buried alive and over 4,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed 🌹 pic.twitter.com/3uDi6zpgJe
— Adan Anwar (@AdanAnwar15) March 16, 2022
Updated at 2:35 pm
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