KDP President condemns Iraqi state’s denial of Kurdish rights on Halabja anniversary  

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Saturday, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani delivered a message on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the chemical attack on Halabja, condemning the impetus within the Iraqi state to eradicate and deny the rights of Kurdish nation.

President Barzani underlined, “the Halabja Chemical attack was a heinous crime; it was, and still is, testament to the cruelty and mentality of oppression by Kurdistan’s adversaries.”

He also highlighted that after more than three decades, “it is utterly disgraceful to see indications of denial and suppression within the Iraqi state against the rights of Kurdistani nation”

March 16th marks the solemn commemoration of the 36th anniversary of the devastating chemical attack on Halabja. Despite the Iraqi parliament's acknowledgment of the atrocity as genocide 13 years ago, the current Iraqi government, inheritor of the former regime, has refused to provide compensation to the victims.

On that fateful day in 1988, Iraqi warplanes unleashed chemical gas upon the heart of Halabja and its surroundings, claiming over 5,000 innocent lives and leaving over 10,000 others wounded, some of whom continue to endure unimaginable suffering.

Shockingly, 68% of the victims were children under 18 years old, and the aftermath saw the complete destruction of 198 out of 216 villages. Additionally, as citizens fled to Iran, 211 children from 74 families went missing.

The KRG has repeatedly called on its federal counterpart to compensate the victims of atrocities against Kurds committed by the former Iraqi regimes, including the infamous Anfal Campaign (1986-89) that killed an estimated 180,000 Kurds.