On Anfal anniversary, Iraqi, Kurdish leaders stress need for international recognition, victim compensation

On the 38th anniversary of the Anfal campaigns, Iraqi and Kurdish leaders affirmed that this crime represents one of the most heinous acts of genocide against the Kurdish people, calling for international recognition and guarantees against its recurrence.

Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, emphasized that Anfal is "a deep wound in the hearts of the people of Kurdistan," noting that approximately 182,000 civilians were killed during these campaigns, which included chemical bombings, forced displacement, and the destruction of thousands of villages.

For his part, Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Region, described Anfal as an attempt to exterminate an entire people, calling for financial and moral compensation for the victims.

In turn, the Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani expressed his sorrow over these "brutal campaigns," stressing the importance of consolidating Iraq's unity and guaranteeing the rights of all its components.

The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, called on the federal government to fulfill its obligations towards the victims, while the head of the Kurdistan Patriotic Union, Bafel Talabani, stressed the need to keep these crimes alive in the collective memory.

The Anfal campaigns date back to the late 1980s, when the former Iraqi regime carried out extensive military operations against Kurdish villages, which resulted in the killing and displacement of tens of thousands, in one of the bloodiest chapters in the country's history.