PHOTOS: Kurdish youths plant trees in city known for chemical attacks

HALABJA (Kurdistan 24) – Over one hundred volunteers from several cities in the Kurdistan region flocked to the town of Halabja on Friday to plant trees and help the environment in a city known for the chemical attacks which decimated its population 30 years ago.

“Everywhere in the world, they are trying to take care of their environment and one of the biggest issues now is global warming. In Kurdistan, and the Middle East, we didn’t think about this issue at all,” said 19 year-old Dara Shoresh, head of the Sulimani and Halabja chapter of the Nishtiman Youth Network (NYN).

“So, now we want to take care of this case. Halabja have been attacked by the Baath-regime in a chemical attack,” he said. “Now, we want to show the world that we will start cleaning up our environment from Halabja.” 

As a first step, the NYN planted 500 trees, but the greater plan is to eventually sow 10,000 trees and flowers across the city.

Sham Abdulla, 20, said she volunteered to serve her country and because NYN has volunteers from people “everywhere in Kurdistan.”

“There are people from Kirkuk, Duhok, and I can see people from different cities here ... This time we decided to come to Halabja. Halabja is like a symbol of peace here [in the region].”

“We need more green areas in Kurdistan,” she continued. “The environment is very important and in Kurdistan we also need to care about sustainability. If we want to have sustainability, we need to plant trees and care about the environment. Not only by planting trees, but also by other projects.”

Ahmed Najm, 18, joined the NYN as a volunteer. “We need to make our country better and we need to volunteer without any money. Although our government is in crisis, we should try our best,” he said. 

The Kurdistan Region’s economy has suffered in recent years due to a financial crisis, a war with the Islamic State (IS), and the resulting large numbers of IDPs in the region.

NYN volunteers say they think that there is a dire need for more environmental awareness. Until now, they complain, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) hasn’t clamped down on littering in cities or even in nature.

“In a lot of picnic places, you see a lot of rubbish,” Najm said. “This is very dangerous for the environment and would become a dangerous problem for our country.”

Rebaz Loqman, a 30 year-old lecturer at Halabja University, came to the NYN event to assist the volunteers, after he heard about the event on Facebook. 

“More than 5,000 people were killed here [in 1988]. So, this city should have more green areas to stop the effect of chemical weapons,” he said. 

Until now, locals in Halabja still suffer from serious illnesses caused by the chemical attacks that were part of the genocidal Anfal Campaign against the Kurds carried out by the regime of Saddam Hussein. 

Said Loqman, “We need to plant more trees and create more green areas to prevent pollution of our area.”

Editing by John J. Catherine