President Masoud Barzani Announces Nizarke Castle to Become Memorial Museum for Anfal Victims
During the visit, President Barzani was briefed on the ongoing restoration process and the concrete steps being taken to establish the castle as a permanent historical and national institution.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – President Masoud Barzani announced on Tuesday that Nizarke Castle, a site synonymous with the oppression of the Kurdish people, will be transformed into a national museum dedicated to the victims of the Anfal campaign.
The announcement came during a symbolic evening visit to the castle, where the President was accompanied by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and other senior officials.
From a Place of Suffering to a Place of Remembrance
According to a statement from Barzani headquarters, the future museum will honor the memory of the thousands of Kurds who were tortured, killed, or disappeared during the genocidal Anfal campaign waged by the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime in the late 1980s.
During the visit, President Barzani was briefed on the ongoing restoration process and the concrete steps being taken to establish the castle as a permanent historical and national institution. In a moment of solemn reflection, he recited the Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Quran, in memory of those who lost their lives at the site.
A Site of Brutal History
Nizarke Castle, built as a military facility in the 1980s, spans a 15,000-square-meter area and contains more than 80 rooms. Under the Ba'ath regime, it was converted into a detention and torture center.
The castle played a central role in the eighth and final stage of the Anfal campaign, known as the Bahdinan Anfal, which lasted from August 25 to September 6, 1988. This phase is widely considered the most ferocious, during which over 3,000 people from the Bahdinan region were rounded up at the castle, tortured, and later transported to mass execution sites.
The transformation of Nizarke Castle from a symbol of brutality into a center for education and remembrance marks a crucial effort by the Kurdistan Regional Government to ensure the atrocities of the past are neither forgotten nor repeated. The museum will stand as a permanent testament to the resilience of the Kurdish people and a tribute to the victims.
