Kurdistan Parliament’s message on 32nd commemoration of the Anfal in Garmian
On 13 April the Presidency of Kurdistan Parliament and the Martyrs Affairs, Genocide and Political Prisoners Committee conveyed messages on the 32nd commemoration of the genocidal Anfal operations in Garmian.
Speaker Rewas Faiq stated that even after 32 years, Anfal survivors and families continue to suffer and live in the hope that the remains of their loved ones will be discovered. The world must not be allowed forget that 182,000 innocent people were killed in the genocide of the Kurds, she stated.
The former Ba’ath regime of Iraq, in its operations which it called Anfal, committed one of the greatest crimes in history. Their intent was not only to destroy Kurds, but also to irrevocably change the demography and map of our country, which has indelibly traumatised families psychologically, she wrote.
Speaker Faiq called on the UN, the international community and the world’s centres to recognise the Anfal campaign as genocide. Iraq must apologise to the survivors and families of the victims. Iraq must fulfil its responsibility towards them, by implementing Article 132 of the Iraqi Constitution and making moral and financial reparations.
The Speaker added that the KRG Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs is duty bound to work with the Iraqi Government to ensure that the remains of Anfal victims found in mass graves are exhumed properly and repatriated.
Speaker Faiq apologised to the survivors and families that not enough has been done to help them.
Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami stated that thousands of men, women, children and the elderly were killed, some even buried alive, in the Ba’ath regime’s Anfal operations in Garmian.
It was one of the many crimes against humanity perpetrated against those who were guilty of being Kurds, Deputy Speaker Hawrami stated. He called on the Iraqi government to recognise the massacres as genocide, to make reparations to the survivors and families of victims, and to repatriate the remains from mass graves to their homes.
If parliaments of other nations recognise this genocide, it would be an important step towards moral and financial compensation for the victims.
Secretary Muna Kahveci stated that the Anfal campaign was a crime without limits, killing children, the elderly, women and men. The aim was to destroy life in the villages, towns and cities in this part of Kurdistan.
Kurdistan bears the wounds of the Anfal, but despite all of the oppression that it has suffered, the people of Kurdistan have defended themselves, overcome injustice and now look to the future with pride.
The Martyrs, Genocide and Political Prisoners Committee stated that the Anfal operations in Garmian, which was the third stage of the Anfal, destroyed 500 villages and four sub-districts. The committee’s priorities are to work with the KRG to press the Iraqi federal government and the international community to recognize the Anfal operations as a genocide, to insist on reparations to the victims’ families and for the repatriation of the victims’ remains from mass graves.