SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Bafel Jalal Talabani on Thursday called on the Iraqi government to compensate families of victims of Anfal campaign in which tens of thousands of people were killed.
Former dictator Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime systematically killed 182,000 Kurds in the Anfal campaign, which began in 1986 over eight phases and reached its peak in 1988 with the Halabja chemical attack which killed 5,000 people and injured thousands of others.
Some of former Baath regime’s largest military operations against the Kurds took place on April 14, 1988 – which is now the official day of remembrance for those killed in the Anfal campaign.
Talabani released a statement on the 34th anniversary of Anfal campaign on Thursday, saying the federal government should “carry out its responsibility and compensate the families of martyrs as a legal and constitutional right”.
He also said the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) should continue to gather evidence to recognize the crime of Anfal as genocide.
“It is the duty of all of us to serve the honorable families of martyrs away from any political bidding and make Anfal a lesson to deepen the spirit of unity and harmony in order to protect and strengthen the Region’s entity,” he added.
