President Barzani at Yale: ‘Genocide Aimed to Destroy the Will of a People Whose Only Crime Was Wanting to Live in Peace’
"Being without an independent state has made the Kurds to face annihilation and was unable as it is needed to prevent themselves from the aggression and animosity of the adversaries," President Masoud Barzani.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — A powerful message from President Masoud Barzani was delivered on his behalf at an international academic conference titled “History and Legacy of the Kurdish Genocide”, held on Wednesday at Yale University in the U.S. state of Connecticut.
The event was organized by the Genocide Studies Program at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, and took place at the university’s Greenberg Conference Center. It brought together scholars, policymakers, and human rights advocates to examine the atrocities committed against the Kurdish people during the rule of Iraq’s former Baath regime.
In his statement, President Barzani extended his “appreciation and gratitude” to Yale University and the organizers for choosing a subject of deep historical and emotional significance to the Kurdish people. He described the conference as “a valuable step and initiative to achieve historical justice and responsibility by revealing the facts.”
Barzani recounted the decades of persecution faced by the Kurds, beginning with the failure of the Iraqi state to honor its original agreement of partnership with the Kurdish nation. He emphasized that what began as political and civil marginalization escalated into a full-fledged genocide during Saddam Hussein’s regime.
He detailed major atrocities including the deportation of Faily Kurds, the 1983 Barzani disappearance, the Halabja chemical attack in 1988, and the Anfal campaign, which resulted in the death of more than 182,000 Kurdish civilians and the destruction of over 4,500 villages.
“The only aim of genocide was to annihilate the Kurds,” the statement read. “The aim was to destroy the will of the Kurdish people who only ask for freedom and improvement of their lives.”
Barzani called on the international academic and human rights communities to continue their efforts to document these crimes and ensure they are never forgotten or repeated. He expressed readiness on behalf of Kurdish institutions to cooperate fully by providing evidence and historical documentation.
“We hope that this conference will be a start point for an extended scientific effort about genocide and the exchange of scientific information between us,” he said, adding that it could also help “establish facts, justice, and historical responsibility as being the three essential criteria for achieving a better future.”
Below is the full transcript of President Masoud Barzani’s statement:
Transcript of President Masoud Barzani’s Speech:
Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen at Yale University / Macmillan / The center of Genocide Studies
Distinguished Guests
On behalf of the Kurdish people I would firstly like to show my appreciation and gratitude to Yale University and the organizers of this international conference. Mentioning and investigating the genocide of the Kurdish people by the former Iraqi regime (Baath Regime) is a sensitive and important subject. Choosing this topic is a valuable step and initiative to achieve historical justice and responsibility by revealing the facts. This step and your kind efforts are highly appreciated.
After the first world war, at the beginning of the creation of the Iraqi state, a part of the Kurdish nation willingly chose to live in Iraq on the terms of partnership and safeguarding of their rights, but the Iraqi authorities breached these terms and started depriving the Kurds of their rights as Iraqis in the frame of the Iraqi state until it has mounted to a level of Genocide by the efforts to annihilate the Kurds. On the 20th century Kurds were the main victims of the policy of a planned genocide. That inhumane policy against the Kurds reached its peak throughout the time of the Baath regime.
In the years 1979-1980 tens of thousands Faily Kurds were detained and went missing losing their Iraqi citizenship; moreover, the majority of them were forcefully deported to Iran. In 1983 in an arranged process 8000 Barzanis: men, women and children were arrested by the Baath regime security forces. They were disappeared and never came back.
In the years 1987-1988 a large part of Kurdistan region was attacked with chemical weapons. Thousands of Kurdish civilians were suffocated by gas and injured.
On 16 march 1988 the city of Halabja was attacked by a mass destruction weapon as a result of which 5000 innocent civilians: Men, women and children were killed in minutes and thousands more were injured. In the same year the stages of the Anfal genocide started which covered all the Kurdistan region. At that time more than 182000 civilians without a distinction of their sex, age or religion were killed as a result of the Anfal campaign. And in an arranged plan in order to destroy the family and community relations of the Kurds 4500 villages were leveled with the ground. In addition to these direct crimes, throughout the 20th century a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing, forced deportation and forced displacement took place. The demographic change of the Kurdistan region and the destruction of the economic infra-structure of the Kurdistan villages aimed at destroying the Kurdish nationality took place.
The Kurdish people lived on their territory for thousands of years. They have the culture of co-existence with other religions and they are always friendly and peace loving people, but what happened to our people in the 20th century was a planned effort to systematically destroy the cultural and historical identity of the Kurds. The only aim of genocide was to annihilate the Kurds. The aim of genocide was to destroy the will of the Kurdish people who only ask for freedom and improvement of their lives. They only wanted to live in peace and they had no other crime.
The Kurdish people are tens of millions and they have an ancient history and a living identity. One of the greatest nations of the world living in the middle east and till now deprived of having its own independent state. Being without an independent state has made the Kurds to face annihilation and was unable as it is needed to prevent itself from the aggression and animosity of the adversaries.
Today we thank the center of genocide for taking this important step and I am sure that the Kurdistan official institutions are ready to provide all the required information and documents for establishing the facts. And with the documentation of all the crimes and archiving them, all help will be provided to this great effort. The Kurdish people need a serious academic and scientific effort in order to reveal the organized and planned crimes perpetrated against them. These crimes should not be forgotten by the international community and remain in their consciousness. The world should remember these atrocities, so that these crimes will not be repeated and we should all together stand against any other effort of genocide against our people in the future.
We need all the efforts and help of Yale University and its success in establishing the facts about the genocide of our people. We hope that this conference will be a start point for an extended scientific effort about genocide and the exchange of scientific information between us. Moreover, it will be a step towards establishing facts, justice and historical responsibility as being the three essential criteria for achieving a better future.
Thanks again for listening to the voice of pain, suffering, and resistance of the Kurdish people.
With respect and hope for a valuable and just future
Masoud Barzani
