Leader Barzani remembers Anfal: A mentality still threatens Iraq

Shafaq News – Erbil

The head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, commemorated the 42nd anniversary of the Anfal campaign against the Barzanis, describing it as part of a long series of crimes and injustices committed by successive Iraqi governments against the people of Kurdistan.

In a message on Facebook released on Thursday, Barzani recalled that on July 31, 1983, the former Ba'ath regime rounded up more than eight thousand Barzani men—some as old as ninety—who had been forcibly relocated to collective towns near Erbil. They were taken to the southern desert of Samawah and executed in one of the deadliest phases of the Anfal Campaign, later classified as genocide and ethnic cleansing.

He linked the massacre to a broader mindset he described as “a mentality of denial and chauvinism,” which, he warned, remains active in some political currents and continues to threaten Iraq’s stability. “As long as this mentality exists, Iraq will never rest,” he cautioned.

While expressing deep respect for the souls of the martyrs and all those who died for the freedom of Kurdistan, he praised the resilience of survivors—especially the women who have borne their grief for decades.