PM Barzani allocates over 3 billion Iraqi dinars to complete Erbil’s Martyrs Monument

A budget of $18 million is estimated to have been spent on the project.
Erbil Martyrs' Monument. (Photo: Erbil Governorate)
Erbil Martyrs' Monument. (Photo: Erbil Governorate)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday decreed spending more than three billion Iraqi dinars (approximately $2 million) to finish the remaining parts of Erbil’s Martyrs Monument, the governorate announced. 

Erbil governorate will be in charge of overseeing the completion of the project with the $2 million budget that Prime Minister Barzani approved, a statement from the governorate read. 

Designed by Khasraw Jaff, a well-known Kurdish architectural designer, the project was partially completed in 2010. However, the monument has not yet been inaugurated due to a lack of funding. 

A budget of $18 million is estimated to have been spent on the project. The memorial has a planned auditorium and other sections that memorialize tragedies the Kurdish people have suffered at the hands of previous Iraqi regimes. 

Iraq’s Kurds have faced numerous atrocities, most notably the murderous Anfal campaign (that killed at least 182,000) and the Halabja massacre (when 5,000 Kurds were killed in a single day in a lethal chemical weapons attack). Hundreds of thousands of civilians, including women and children, perished in these crimes against humanity. 

The Kurdistan Region authorities regularly call on the federal government to compensate the victims and their families for the atrocities they suffered by the Ba’ath regime. None of the post-2003 governments in Iraq have yet paid reparations to the victim. 

Under Article 132 (1) of the Iraqi Constitution, the state is responsible for taking care of the families of “martyrs, political prisoners, and victims of the oppressive practices of the defunct dictatorial regime.”