On the 43rd Anniversary of the Barzani genocide, President Masoud Barzani underlined that it is the duty of the Iraqi state to provide financial and moral compensation for the victims of the Barzani genocide by the former Iraqi regime.

On July 31, 1983, roughly 8,000 Barzani men and boys were abducted by the Ba’athist regime, executed in southern Iraqi deserts, and buried in mass graves during the genocidal Anfal campaign against the Kurds.

“In the Anfal crime against the Barzanis, the former Iraqi regime arrested 8,000 Barzani men, young men, and elders solely because they belonged to Barzan and were Kurds. After being forcibly taken away, they were subjected to execution and genocide in the deserts of southern Iraq,” President Barzani said.

“The Anfal crime against the Barzanis, committed on July 31, 1983, was part of the onset of a series of organized atrocities — starting with the enforced disappearance of 12,000 young Feyli Kurds, through the Anfal campaigns in Garmian and Badinan, the chemical bombardment of Halabja and other areas of Kurdistan, to Arabization, forced displacement, and dozens of other inhumane crimes committed by the former Iraqi regime against the people of Kurdistan to erase their identity and crush their spirit that yearned for freedom.”

In a statement on Friday, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also commemorated the 43rd anniversary of the Barzani genocide.

“The people of Kurdistan will never forget these atrocities; we remember the sacrifices made in pursuit of our legitimate rights. We will never give up our national achievements, and we will continue to defend them in every way,” Prime Minister Barzani said in a statement.

“Once again, we call on the federal government to fulfill its constitutional duty and moral responsibility to compensate the families of the victims of the acts of genocide, the Anfal campaign, and the families of every victim of the brutal former Iraqi regime.”

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement that the genocide committed against the Barzanis, together with the Anfal campaign in its entirety, “remains an open wound in our nation’s conscience. 

“Yet it has only deepened the people of Kurdistan’s resolve to endure and to defend its legitimate rights. We reaffirm that the Iraqi government bears both a moral and a legal duty to compensate the families of the Anfal victims and all those harmed by the crimes of the former regime.

“We reaffirm that the tragedies and suffering of the past must become lessons for the future, cultivating a culture of mutual acceptance and coexistence. Such a culture is essential to building unity, understanding, and lasting peace — bringing together all communities in Iraq to live side by side in dignity and pride.”