Commemoration Message for the Barzani Genocide

To the global public opinion, friends and sympathizers of the Kurdish cause, and the Kurdish community in the diaspora:

Today, July 31, 2026, we mark the painful and harrowing anniversary of one of the most brutal crimes of the 20th century. In 1983, the Ba'ath regime of Iraq forcibly displaced eight thousand innocent Barzani men and boys of various ages from their ancestral lands, burying them alive in the remote deserts of southern and central Iraq.

This heinous crime was not merely an attack on a specific region; it was a central and bloody phase of the inhumane Anfal campaign, carried out with the deliberate intent to destroy and erase the Kurdish national identity. In this genocide, the Ba'ath regime violated all human and international legal values, brutally depriving families of their fathers, brothers, sons, and providers.

The crimes and oppression committed against the Barzani people and other children of the Kurdish nation were solely because of their Kurdish identity and aspiration for freedom. The enemies' goal was to break the will for freedom and patriotism of the people of Kurdistan. However, the resolve of our people's children proved far stronger than violence, intimidation, genocide, and Anfal. Ultimately, that lofty will triumphed, leaving the enemies defeated and disgraced. This must serve as a lesson for the adversaries of the people of Kurdistan to abandon their denialist and chauvinistic mentality toward the oppressed Kurdish nation.

As the Federation of Kurdish Diaspora Women, on this sorrowful day, we honor with dignity and respect the thousands of innocent martyrs of the Barzani Anfal and all martyrs of the path to Kurdistan's liberation. We bow our heads in reverence to the mothers of the Anfal victims, who wrote history through their tears and resilience.
At the same time, we call upon the Iraqi government to officially recognize the Anfal crime and the Barzani genocide, and to assume its legal and moral responsibility to compensate the victims' families.

We also call upon the international community and human rights organizations to recognize this massive crime as genocide, in order to prevent the recurrence of such human catastrophes anywhere else in the world.

Eternal glory and pride to the martyrs of Anfal and all martyrs of Kurdistan's path to freedom.

Kurdistan Diaspora Women’s Federation 
31 July, 2026