Kurdistan PM’s Speech at Yale Honors Kurdish Genocide Victims, Calls for Global Justice

By Dler Mohammed

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) —  A powerful speech delivered on behalf of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Wednesday, at Yale University’s Greenberg Conference Center, in Connecticut state, the United States, underscored the enduring trauma and historical importance of the Kurdish genocide. The speech, part of the “History and Legacy of the Kurdish Genocide” conference organized by the Genocide Studies Program at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, called for justice and international accountability for the atrocities committed against the Kurdish people.

PM Barzani, speaking through a representative, praised the conference as a vital platform for remembering one of the darkest periods in Kurdish history. He reminded the audience that the genocide did not happen in a single event but through decades of systematic violence, including the razing of 4,500 Kurdish villages from the 1970s to 1991 and the Anfal campaign of 1988, which led to the deaths of 182,000 Kurds and the destruction of countless communities.

The Prime Minister’s message paid special tribute to the victims of chemical attacks like those in Halabja and the mass disappearances of the Barzani and Feyli Kurdish populations. He emphasized that genocide was the culmination of a long history of oppression and marginalization, often ignored by the international community.

“Justice must come alongside remembrance,” Barzani said, adding that Iraq has once again become the scene of genocide with ISIS’s crimes against the Yezidis and Christians. Despite the United Nations and the U.S. recognizing these crimes as genocide, Barzani noted that the global response has been insufficient and called for greater efforts to uncover mass graves, compensate survivors, and ensure accountability.

Highlighting the resilience of the Kurdish people and the region’s role as a haven for the persecuted, Barzani thanked the U.S. and institutions like Yale for their solidarity. He urged scholars and students to continue researching and sharing the stories of Kurdish suffering, stating, “Your research, your voices, and your compassion will help give meaning to the words ‘never again’.”

Below is the full transcript of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s speech delivered at Yale University:

 
Transcript of Prime Minister Masrour Barzani’s Speech at Yale University:

Distinguished scholars, honored guests, dear friends,

It is an honor to address this important conference at Yale University — a gathering dedicated to the study of one of the darkest chapters in modern Kurdish history: the genocide committed against the Kurdish people. I thank the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and all the organizers of this conference for ensuring that this history is neither forgotten nor ignored, and for giving voice to the victims and survivors whose courage continues to shape our future.

One thing that is essential to remember is that the genocide against the people of Kurdistan did not take place just once or in one operation. Over many years, different groups and communities were targeted, whether because of their identity, their faith or their geographic location. From the mid-1970s until 1991, 4,500 villages in Kurdistan were razed to the ground as the Baathist regime tried to eradicate our way of life and our heritage.

Perhaps the most notorious chapter of the Kurdish genocide is referred to as the Anfal, which literally means the spoils of war. This word from the Holy Quran was misused by Saddam Hussein’s regime to name the eight-stage Anfal genocide operation against the Kurdish people in 1988.

Over a period of about six months, 182,000 people were targeted and killed. Villages were destroyed. Families were torn apart. Innocent men, women, and children were rounded up and executed. Chemical weapons — weapons of mass destruction — were unleashed on Kurdish towns and villages, leaving thousands dead in a matter of hours. Thousands more were injured and many of them still suffer from respiratory problems, cancers and blindness.

Entire communities were erased from the map. Mass graves scattered across the Iraqi countryside stand as silent witness to this atrocity. For decades, the survivors have carried both the physical and emotional scars of this genocide — scars that are passed down from one generation to another, until justice truly prevails.

The tragedy of Anfal was not an isolated event. The persecution of the Feyli Kurds began in 1970 and reached a peak in 1979 when thousands were deprived of their Iraqi nationality and were systematically executed.

In July 1983, the Baathists turned on the Barzanis, my own family and lineage. In that operation, 8,000 men and boys as young as 12 years old were forcibly ‘disappeared’. Decades later, we found the remains of some of them in mass graves in the deserts of southern Iraq.

Many of you may recall or have heard of the use of chemical weapons against the city of Halabja in March 1988. In this operation, 5,000 men, women and children perished and thousands more were injured.

But these acts of genocide did not happen in isolation, and this is where there is a lesson from our history.

Genocide was the culmination of a long history of oppression, marginalization, and violence against the Kurdish people. For far too long, our language, our culture, and even our very identity were seen as threats that must be extinguished. Countries around the world may say that they did not know, but this is not true. Some perhaps did not know the true extent of our oppression, but others did and turned a blind eye to it.

Yet, despite every effort to break our spirit, the Kurdish people have endured.

Today, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq stands as a testament to resilience and hope. Against all the odds, we have built a society that values freedom, coexistence, and dignity, and our region remains a refuge for those fleeing violence and persecution. In our darkest moments — whether during the fight against ISIS or the other challenges we face today — it has been the strength of our people, and the support of our friends around the world, that continue to carry us forward.

We are grateful to the United States and to international partners for standing with us during these critical times. And we are equally grateful to academic institutions like Yale University for ensuring that the stories of Halabja, Anfal, and the Kurdish people are preserved, studied, and shared. By holding this conference, you are bearing witness to genocide. This is an important act.

But memory alone is not enough. Justice must come alongside remembrance. While Saddam Hussein’s regime is gone, the legacy of genocide remains. Iraq became the theatre for another genocide only a decade ago, when in 2014 ISIS rampaged across Iraq, killing thousands and especially targeting the Yezidis and Christians. It is right to ask: why is it that Iraq became the land where the act of genocide has been repeated so many times?

Thousands of families still seek the fate of their loved ones from the murders by ISIS as well as from the genocides four decades ago. Yezidis still seek the women and girls who were abducted and enslaved by ISIS. Mass graves remain unmarked, unexamined, and unacknowledged. The Iraqi federal government is yet to compensate the victims. Survivors and their families continue to bear the burden of loss without the full recognition and reparations they deserve. Last week, the Iraqi Parliament voted to recognize Halabja as a governorate. This was an important and necessary step and should have been taken a long time ago.

The crimes committed by ISIS were formally recognized by the United Nations and the United States as genocide, yet the global response remains insufficient. Justice for the Yezidi people, and for all communities who suffered under ISIS, must be a priority — not only for Iraq, but for the international community as a whole. The memory of their suffering demands that we confront impunity and rebuild lives with dignity and security.

As we honor the memory of the victims of all genocides, we commit ourselves to the cause of those whose suffering continues in the shadows. Recognition, justice, and accountability must be pursued with equal urgency, for history has taught us that silence is complicity.

To the students and scholars gathered here: your work matters. Your research, your voices, and your compassion will help give meaning to the words ‘never again’. You are not just preserving history; you are shaping the conscience of future generations.

May we honor the memory of the fallen — not only in words, but in deeds.

Thank you.