President Masoud Barzani has renewed calls for justice and comprehensive compensation for the victims of the Anfal campaigns, marking the 43rd anniversary of the Barzanis' Anfal, one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the Kurdish people.

In a statement issued on Friday, Barzani described the 31 July 1983 Anfal of the Barzanis as the beginning of a series of organized crimes carried out by the former Iraqi regime. He said these atrocities included the forced disappearance of 12,000 young Fayli Kurds, the Anfal campaigns in Garmiyan and Badinan, the chemical attacks on Halabja and other Kurdish regions, as well as Arabization policies, forced displacement, and numerous other crimes aimed at erasing the identity of the Kurdish people and suppressing their aspiration for freedom.

Barzani recalled that approximately 8,000 Barzani men, young men, and elderly men were arrested solely because of their Kurdish identity and their affiliation with Barzan. According to the statement, they were forcibly taken away, executed, and subjected to genocide in the deserts of southern Iraq.

Emphasizing that the wounds of these atrocities remain unhealed, Barzani said it is the responsibility of the Iraqi state to provide both material and moral compensation for the genocide and other crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan throughout the last century.

The Kurdish leader also expressed his gratitude to the people of the Erbil Plain, Harir, and Soran for supporting the Barzanis during one of the darkest periods in their history. He paid special tribute to the families of the Anfal victims, particularly the Barzani mothers and women, praising their resilience, sacrifice, and determination in raising generations committed to their homeland despite enduring years of loss and suffering.

Concluding his message, Barzani honored the memory of the Barzani victims of the Anfal and all those who lost their lives during the Anfal campaigns and in the struggle for the freedom of Kurdistan.