In the name of of Allah the Merciful

Thirty-eight years pass today since a major crime committed by the former Iraqi regime. Thirty-eight years ago, and on a day like this day, the Baathist regime drove more than eight thousand Barzani men, young and old (from the age of nine to the elderly from the age of ninety) to the deserts of southern Iraq, the crime of mass murder was carried out brutally.

This crime was one of the episodes of the series of grievances that the people of Kurdistan were subjected to, from the displacement of twelve thousand young Faili Kurds, the Anfal operations carried out in Garmyan and the bombing of Halbaja and many other areas with chemical weapons, to the Arabization and deportation campaigns, terrorist attacks and the commission of the most heinous crimes against our Yazidi brothers.

In memory of the Barzanis' genocide, I consider it necessary to extend my thanks to the people of the Erbil, Harir and Soran plains, who dealt in those dark days with a spirit of Kurdish brotherhood and masculinity and sympathized with and helped the Barzanis.

I would like to thank the families of the Anfal, especially the mothers and prominent women who, for many years, endured the tragedies of waiting and the torment of losing loved ones, and became a model of steadfastness and valor, and who raised their children with pride and loftiness on the high morals, cordiality and Barzani’s approach.

That crime was committed against the Barzanis, and all the crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan were because they were Kurds defending freedom.

The goal of the enemies was to break the will to defend freedom and to undermine the Kurdish people's spirit of Kurdistan. But the will of our people was much stronger than violence, intimidation, genocide and Anfal, and the result was the victory of that high will of our people, and the defeat and shame of the enemies. Therefore, this lesson must become a lesson for the enemies of the people of Kurdistan and they should abandon the chauvinistic mentality and denial towards the oppressed Kurdish nation.

Masoud Barzani
July 31, 2021