Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani commemorated the 40th anniversary of the genocidal campaign perpetrated by the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein against the Barzani people in the early 1980s. On this day, July 31, 1983, Barzani civilians, all male, were rounded up in camps in Erbil, and tragically, eight thousand of them were brutally murdered that year.

In his statement, Prime Minister Barzani condemned the actions of the former regime, emphasizing that even after four decades, there are still individuals seeking to infringe upon the constitutional rights of the Kurdish people, echoing the chauvinistic mindset of the infamous Anfal campaign, an eight-stage genocidal campaign perpetrated against the Kurds in the 1980s.

The Barzani genocide was part of a broader racist campaign directed at the Kurdish people by the Ba'athist regime, which also targeted the Feyli Kurds and committed atrocities in Halabja and the Garmiyan region. Notably, the regime bombarded Halabja with chemical bombs, resulting in the deaths of around 5,000 people and displacing thousands more.

Barzani highlighted the long history of uprisings and revolts by the people of the Barzan area against tyranny and oppression. He reiterated his call for the compensation of victims and their families by the Iraqi federal government, as enshrined in the constitution.

Over the years, efforts have been made to honor the victims of the Barzani genocide. In 2005, a Kurdish team led by the former Kurdistan Region Minister of Human Rights discovered the remains of 500 Barzani victims in remote areas near Iraq's borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The bodies were brought back to Barzan in 2007 and reburied in graves, marking the first funeral procession of its kind.

The Barzani genocide preceded the Anfal campaign, during which at least 182,000 Kurdish civilians were killed, and numerous villages were leveled.

As recently as July of the previous year, 100 remains of human bodies were recovered from the southern desert region in Iraq and laid to rest in the Barzan area in northern Erbil province.

The commemoration serves as a solemn reminder of the atrocities committed against the Barzani people and reaffirms the importance of addressing historical injustices and providing restitution for the victims and their families.