Mass grave found in Erbil

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Basma Sabir, an eyewitness, revealed the location of a mass grave in Erbil. The mass grave contained 30-40 bodies of Kurdish people executed by the former dictatorship government of Iraq in the 1990s.

Fuad Osman, the spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, told K24 on Sunday that an eyewitness discovered a mass grave in Turaq village in Erbil Province.

"Ms. Sabir informed the ministry that while she was visiting a graveyard in Turaq village with her father, they found the mass grave very close to the graveyard," said Osman.

According to Osman, the mass grave contained about 30-40 bodies of Kurds from the 1990s, following the Kurdish uprising in 1991. "Former Iraqi dictatorship regime executed and buried them all next to each other," he continued, "all the buried bodies tend to be in Kurdish traditional dress with some blocks put on some of the graves."

Osman noted that Sabir had previously revealed the existence of the mass grave in the area to another Kurdish media outlet in 2013. According to Osman, "She should have personally informed the ministry about the mass grave as the ministry might not always be up to speed with media outlets."

He mentioned that the ministry's committee of mass graves visited the area a week ago to examine the graves. "The committee has sent a letter to the Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs and courts in the Kurdistan Region to allow the committee to do its legal measures to start uncovering the mass grave," Osman added.

Osman stated that the ministry also needs to inform the families of the buried people in the graveyard next to the mass grave. "The mass grave is very close, and almost mixed with the graveyard,” Osman said. “Their families should know that the committee might take out some of the graves in the graveyard while uncovering the mass grave."

According to the official statistics, KRG and the Iraqi Federal government have found 300 locations of mass graves in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. Osman stated that 60 of those mass graves contained the bodies of Kurds. "So far, 2,600 bodies have returned to the Kurdistan Region," said Osman.

He revealed that in some mass graves found in Baghdad the identities of the bodies remain unknown. "We as the ministry will work on returning all Kurdish bodies to the Kurdistan Region after their identities are revealed," he concluded.