Duhok to build a museum at a landmark of the Anfal campaign

Shafaq News/ Authorities in Duhok on Sunday laid the foundation stone for a museum dedicated to the victims of the Anfal campaign, a brutal crackdown by Saddam Hussein's regime against the Kurdish minority in 1980s.

The museum will be located at the Nizarke Fortress, a former military base that was built in 1976 and used as a detention camp during the campaign in 1988. Thousands of innocent civilians, including women, children, and elders, were subjected to torture and execution within its walls.

"The museum will feature war remnants and equipment that were used during the campaign," said Hasan Aref, the media officer at Duhok's Directorate of Culture.

"The museum will be a symbol of the Anfal in Bahdinan," said Duhok Governor Ali Tatar, who spoke at the ceremony. "Most of the victims of the Anfal in Bahdinan were women, children, and elders."

Tatar added that "throughout history there have been attempts to eradicate the Kurdish people, and what happened to the Kurdish people in 1988 was the largest, most violent, and most cowardly attempt by the former Baathist regime in Iraq."

He said that "the international community remained silent and did not take a position on this major crime."

The Anfal campaign was a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing organized by Saddam Hussein's regime against the Kurds in 1980s. It is estimated that up to 180,000 Kurds were killed during the campaign, which included the use of chemical weapons.