KRG PM calls Baghdad to compensate families of Anfal victims

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has urged the Iraqi government to compensate the victims of genocide conducted by the former Iraqi regime.

During a speech on Saturday marking the 30th anniversary of the Anfal genocide campaign, Prime Minister Barzani called on the Iraqi government to compensate the families of the victims.

In 1988, the former Iraqi regime conducted the eighth and final stage of its Anfal campaigns against 600 villages in Duhok where dozens of people were killed, and 25,000 others were displaced.

The remains of 13 people killed and buried in a mass grave during the genocidal campaign were brought back to Duhok and buried in the city’s Nzarke castle.

The remains of 21 other martyrs were found in another mass grave, Barzani revealed. He called on the related authorities and families of the Anfal victims in Duhok to assist in identifying the victims and prepare a proper burial.

The KRG Prime Minister urged the Iraqi government to implement its constitutional, legal, and moral responsibilities to compensate the families of the Anfal genocide.

“The Iraqi government has not been committed to its responsibility to implement Article 132 of the constitution regarding compensation for the families of Anfal victims,” Barzani stated, calling on the federal government to take the matter seriously.

According to Article 132 of Iraq’s Constitution, approved by 80 percent of Iraqis in the 2005 referendum, “the State shall guarantee care for the families of the martyrs, political prisoners, and victims of the oppressive practices of the defunct dictatorial regime.”

Barzani said the implementation of Article132 would be part of the new government formation talks between Erbil and Baghdad. He also urged Kurdish MPs to defend the rights of the martyrs and families of Anfal victims.

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 during the campaign.

KRG's Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs previously stated that the damages caused by Iraq’s former Ba’ath regime amounted to nearly USD 400 billion.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany