Anfal 37th anniversary: Kurdistan remembers 182,000 killed, seeks recognition

Shafaq News/ Authorities in the Garmian region of Iraq’s Kurdistan marked the anniversary of the Anfal genocide on Monday with a solemn ceremony attended by government officials, political party representatives, civil society organizations, survivors, and victims' families.

The event opened with a moment of silence in honor of the victims, followed by speeches emphasizing the importance of remembrance and justice. Speakers condemned the Ba'ath regime’s systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in the late 1980s, describing the Anfal operations as an attempt to erase Kurdish identity through mass killings and forced displacement.

Relatives of the victims renewed their demands for full financial and symbolic compensation, improved access to healthcare, education, and housing, and formal recognition of the campaign as an act of genocide. They also called for the return of victims’ remains from mass graves scattered across Iraq and urged dignified reburials per cultural traditions.

The Anfal campaign, carried out between 1987 and 1988, consisted of eight military phases that targeted Kurdish regions such as Garmian, Qaradagh, and Badinan. It involved aerial bombardment, chemical weapons, mass executions, and the destruction of over 4,000 villages. More than 182,000 people—mostly women, children, and the elderly—were killed, many of them buried in unmarked mass graves.