SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The politburo of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on the 34th anniversary of the Anfal genocide commemoration in Badinan and Kurdish inhabited areas in Nineveh plains, in a message on Thursday, demanded both Iraqi, as well as the Kurdistan Region government, take serious steps to compensate families of martyrs.
On the 34th anniversary of the Anfal genocide commemoration in Badinan and Kurdish populated areas of Nineveh province, a campaign launched by the former Iraqi regime of Ba’ath to eliminate the Kurds and lasted three years from 1986 to 1989, the PUK politburo paid respect to the victim of that catastrophe that killed at least 5000 Kurdish people and thousands of villages were demolished during the campaign, according to the message.
“A vast number of schools, mosques, and churches were burned, and thousands of Muslims and Christians, as well as Yezidis, were assaulted and mass murdered, but up to this point, no essential steps have been made to repatriate bodies of the victims in that vital region of Kurdistan,” the message said.
PUK politburo said, on the anniversary of that catastrophe it is the duty of the Kurdistan Region government and the Iraqi government, and all sides, to intensify the efforts in order to bring serious attention to the size of that crime that happened to our people.
“Efforts shall be made to repatriate bodies of the martyrs and compensate their families,” it said.
“This crime should be recognized side by side with the other crimes that the Ba’athist regime had carried out in the different areas of Kurdistan against our people, it needs to be recognized as genocide to reduce the pain of the victim’s families” it added.
