KRG calls on Baghdad to take ‘practical steps’ to compensate Anfal victims' families

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On the Kurdish day of remembrance for the Anfal genocide, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) called on the federal government of Iraq to take practical steps in compensating the families of the victims and the region.

“We hope the Iraqi government, as a legal and moral responsibility, makes practical and serious steps toward financial and moral compensation to the families of Anfal victims, the people of the Kurdistan Region, and the region itself,” read the statement released by the KRG’s Council of Ministers on Saturday.

In 2007, the KRG declared April 14 to be a yearly day of remembrance of the Anfal campaign, conducted by the former Baath regime of Iraq as a series of systematic attacks against the people of the Kurdistan Region that took place between 1986-1988.

According to Human Rights Watch, the former Iraqi government systematically killed about 100,000 non-combatant civilians including women and children, but later investigations conducted by researchers in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq show a much higher figure, approximately 182,000 people.

In addition to the toll in human life, about 4,000 villages, 1,750 schools, 270 hospitals, 2,400 mosques, 27 churches, and countless local businesses in the Kurdistan Region were destroyed and looted as a part of the campaign.

The KRG statement also claimed that the only way to prevent the reoccurrence of similar crimes against humanity, including those recently committed against Kurdish Ezidis by the Islamic State (IS), is unity among all parties and populations within the Kurdistan Region.

Every year, Kurds in the region and the diaspora commemorate the genocide with various activities including standing on the street in silence at 9:00 am to honor the victims.

Editing by John J. Catherine