Kurdistan, the chemical massacres... brutal regimes fighting the breath of freedom

Since World War II, which witnessed unprecedented atrocities in the history of humanity; the end of a brutal era in the view of the modern world; Kurdistan's geography is still witnessing an unprecedented war of extermination being waged by the remnants of the mentality of the First and Second World Wars embodied in the regimes of the Middle East.

International powers turn a blind eye and ignore one of the most important and sensitive issues in history. Where one of the world's oldest and most ancient peoples in the cradle of humanity is subjected to cultural and physical genocide on its land in the heart of the Middle East; At the hands of dictatorial regimes that divided and ruled the country of the Kurds.

Halabja and Anfal and the attempt to end the Kurdish presence in Southern Kurdistan and Iraq

The 16th of March of each year coincides with the anniversary of the Halabja massacre, which was subjected to a chemical attack as part of the "Anfal" campaign launched by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1986 to carry out one of the most heinous crimes of the twentieth century against the Kurdish citizens in Southern Kurdistan, and to attempt to exterminate the Kurdish component in Iraq.

These crimes continued during these two years (1986-1988) under the leadership of Ali Hassan al-Majid, “Ali Chemical,” Saddam Hussein’s cousin, in charge of the Kurdistan region at the time, and he had wide exceptional powers. In the stages of the Anfal campaigns, all types of internationally prohibited weapons were used, especially chemical weapons such as mustard, cyanide, nerve gas, and phosphorus.

The Iraqi regime followed the "scorched earth" policy to end the Kurdish cause. It also worked to empty many Kurdish areas of its population, arrest men and youth among them, and transfer women to "compounds". Statistics indicated that the victims of these crimes amounted to (182,000) people. The regime also The Iraqi government burned and destroyed more than (2,000) inhabited villages, displaced the people to areas other than their own, and bombed the city of Halabja with chemical weapons.

On March 14, 1988, Iranian forces entered and occupied the city of Halabja and many surrounding villages, in the midst of the Iran-Iraq war that broke out in 1980.

At 11:30 am on the 16th of March, 50 Iraqi warplanes flew over the city of Halabja, which was inhabited by 80,000 people, and it began the heavy shelling with missiles and bombs for 5 hours in row, targeting the civilians.

After the massacre

After the bombing, the city of Halabja sank into a long slumber, no rustle or sound was heard, no movement was seen, and no trace of life was lost, according to what those who lived in those days say.

Within a few hours, more than 5,000 civilians, including children, women and the elderly, lost their lives, and between 7-10,000 people suffered from shortness of breath and other diseases over the years following the attack.

The chemical attack launched by the Iraqi forces on Halabja was considered the worst massacre in the country, as corpses were lying everywhere.

Later, after conducting analyzes of samples collected from the city and the victims, experts confirmed that three types of toxic gases were used in the bombing of the city, namely (cyanide, toxic mustard gas, and sarin gas, which affects the nerves).

Years later, Amnesty International collected the names of more than 17,000 people who disappeared in 1988 from the city of Halabja in the chemical and Anfal bombings, while hundreds are still missing, according to what the organization published on its official website.

The Halabja massacre did not leave room for the world to distort the laws and their provisions, because this massacre met the standards of the 1948 Genocide Convention in defining genocide.

The Dutch court considered the Halabja massacre to fulfill the requirement set forth in the genocide conventions as an ethnic group legally.

On December 5, 2012, the Swedish parliament recognized that the Halabja massacre was a genocide against the Kurds, and other courts recognized the genocide in Halabja.

The mountains of Kurdistan, the chemical theater in the twenty-first century

The city of Halabja, which drew the world's attention to the criminality of Saddam Hussein's regime, and the massacre therein was considered one of the most serious crimes using chemical weapons in the twentieth century. It is tens of kilometers away from the scene of another crime no less brutal than the Halabja massacre. Hundreds of Guerrilla fighters are facing a war of annihilation during this time. Turkey, in which Ankara uses weapons whose danger and destructive capacity are tens of times greater than those used in Halabja 35 years ago. The two massacres combine on the same brutality and the same goal, which is; The elimination of the Kurdish presence.

In September of the year 2009, the Turkish occupation army used chemical weapons for the first time against the PKK fighters in the province of Ba’atman in Northern Kurdistan, and this led to the martyrdom of 5 fighters. It was published by many international newspapers, including the German "Der Spiegel" at the time; Those photos and documents.

The use of atomic and chemical weapons is prohibited in all international laws and norms, and their use is considered a war crime. Despite this, the occupying Turkish state used these prohibited weapons in the mountains of Kurdistan against the Guerrilla fighters to achieve its goals.

Since April 17, 2021, Turkey, which receives unlimited support from NATO, has not stopped bombing the mountains of Kurdistan with chemical weapons and other internationally prohibited weapons, amid the legendary resistance of the Guerrilla fighters there.

In mid-April 2022, the occupying Turkish state, in cooperation with the Kurdistan Democratic Party, launched a massive attack on Zap, Avaşîn and Metîna. According to the Media Center of the People's Defense Forces (HPG), the Turkish occupation army used chemical weapons against Guerrilla sites 779 times during the months of April and May.

The use of these weapons by the Turkish army against Guerrilla has been documented dozens of times. In addition, these documents and pictures of the use of chemical weapons have been provided to more than 40 countries.

This issue has been discussed in the parliaments of many of these countries, but so far no position has emerged against the Turkish army, which uses chemical weapons and violates all international laws and norms.

The Turkish army has been using these weapons against the Kurdish people since 2015. In addition, the Turkish occupation state has intensified its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and recently it has become clear that the occupying state is using tactical nuclear weapons.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party between the massacres of Halabja and the mountains of Kurdistan

During the Iraqi-Iranian war that began in September 1980 and ended in August 1988, the two Kurdish parties in Başûr Kurdistan (Southern Kurdistan) entered the war as parties to the war instead of protecting their people after the Kurdish lands in Iraq and Iran turned into an open battlefield between the Iraqi regime and the Iranian state.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party stood by the Iraqi Baathist regime, while the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan stood by the Iranian state, which brought destruction and massacres to the Kurdish cities and towns under the control of both parties.

What is more complicit is that the authorities of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Southern Kurdistan, which experienced chemical weapons during the era of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq; The Turkish occupation state is helping in its dirty chemical war against the Guerrilla fighters. Approximately 1,200 protective masks against chemical weapons were on their way to the Guerrilla fighters to help them protect themselves from chemical attacks. However, the KDP authorities seized it and prevented its arrival in April last year; In another crime against the will of the Kurdish people added to the series of crimes and acts of treason to the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

The authorities of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Dohuk prevented a European committee from going to the village of Harori, the center of the Kani Masi district, to investigate the use of chemical weapons by the Turkish occupation state in Southern Kurdistan in September last year, and the committee called on the authorities in Southern Kurdistan to allow it to investigate the use of weapons by the occupying state. chemicals to avoid a repeat of the Halabja tragedy.

T/ Satt.

ANHA