President Barzani Marks 38th Anniversary of Badinan Anfal, Calls on Iraq to Compensate Kurdish Victims
The Kurdish leader says the former Iraqi regime sought to alter Kurdistan’s demographics and break the will of its people, but ultimately failed
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — President Masoud Barzani on Tuesday marked the 38th anniversary of the Anfal campaign in Badinan, condemning the atrocities committed by the former Iraqi regime and calling on the Iraqi government to compensate the victims of crimes committed against the Kurdish people.
In a statement marking the anniversary, Barzani said the former Iraqi regime carried out a “brutal” campaign across large parts of the Badinan region between Aug. 25 and Sept. 6, 1988, as part of a broader series of crimes against the people of Kurdistan.
The campaign involved chemical attacks, mass arrests, killings, forced displacement, and the Anfalization of civilians, according to Barzani, who said thousands of Kurdish citizens were killed or disappeared while hundreds of villages were destroyed.
The Kurdish leader said the campaign was part of a deliberate policy aimed at reshaping the demographic composition of Kurdistan and implementing a “scorched-earth” strategy designed to break the will of the Kurdish people.
However, he said the Kurdish people’s determination to remain on their land and pursue freedom ultimately prevailed.
“The iron will of the people of Kurdistan to remain and seek freedom succeeded, while the enemies and perpetrators collapsed and became a lesson for history,” Barzani said.
He paid tribute to the victims of the Badinan Anfal, as well as those killed during the Anfal campaigns in Garmiyan and Barzan, and all those who lost their lives in the struggle for freedom in Kurdistan.
Barzani also stressed that responsibility remains with the Iraqi state to address the consequences of the crimes committed against the Kurdish people.
He called on Baghdad to compensate the victims and remedy the violations and crimes perpetrated against Kurdistan’s population under the former regime.
The Badinan Anfal was one of the final phases of the former Iraqi government’s wider Anfal campaign against the Kurdish population in 1988. The campaign included mass killings, forced displacement, village destruction and the use of chemical weapons, most notoriously in the March 1988 chemical attack on Halabja.
The Anfal campaign remains one of the darkest episodes in modern Kurdish history and is commemorated annually across the Kurdistan Region.
Barzani concluded his message by offering his condolences and tribute to the “pure souls” of the Anfal victims and reaffirming the Kurdish people’s continued commitment to freedom and survival.