Masoud Barzani calls on Iraqi government to redress Anfal victims

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – It is "a matter of moral responsibility" for the Iraqi government to compensate the victims of the Anfal Campaign, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani said on Thursday.

"The genocidal Anfal campaign is one of the most inhumane episodes of Iraq's history during the last century," President Barzani tweeted. "It is imperative and it is a matter of moral responsibility for the Iraqi state to begin the process of reparations to the families of the victims of this heinous crime."

The genocidal Anfal campaign is one of the most inhumane episodes of Iraq’s history during the last century. It is imperative and it is a matter of moral responsibility for the Iraqi state to begin the process of reparations to the families of the victims of this heinous crime.

— Masoud Barzani (@masoud_barzani) April 14, 2022

At least 180,000 Kurds, including women and children, were murdered by the former Iraqi regime during the infamous Anfal Campaign of the late 1980s.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, Baghdad must compensate the victims of the former regime's atrocities. So far, the government has not fulfilled this obligation.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also called on Baghdad to fulfill its constitutional obligation and pay reparations for those atrocities on Thursday.

Thursday marked the 34th anniversary of the beginning of the Anfal campaign in Garmiyan on Apr. 14, 1988.

Every Apr. 14, people across the Kurdistan Region commemorate the genocidal campaign and its numerous victims.

Nogra Salman prison camp, located in Muthanna governorate's Samawah in southern Iraq, was one of the notorious prison camps in the country in which thousands were held and tortured before being massacred.

A number of Kurdish relatives of victims and activists visited that site on Thursday to commemorate the victims who perished there.