Today, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the genocidal Anfal campaigns against the Barzanis, and pay tribute to more than 8000 innocent Barzanis who were rounded up from the concentration camps in Erbil from late July to mid-August 1983, and sent to mass murder sites, never to see their families again.

Thousands of innocent Barzani families in Qushtapa, Bahrka, Harir, Soran and other places were left without fathers and brothers, and thousands of Barzani women remained widowed, facing an unknown and difficult fate, and enduring harsh suffering and deprivation. These brave women took the responsibility of raising their children in the absence of their fathers and brothers who never came back from the mass murder sites of southern deserts. I kiss the hands of these kind and devoted mothers.

The Anfal of Barzanis, like all the crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan, not only did not weaken the strength and determination of our people to fight against oppression and dictatorship, rather, it strengthened the spirit of confrontation and the will of the people of Kurdistan to continue their struggle with a stronger belief.

As we mark this notorious day, we salute the innocent Barzani victims of the Anfal; we pay tribute to all victims of the infamous Anfal campaigns and honor all the fallen heroes of Kurdistan. We applaud the people of Erbil, Harir and Batas, for their courageous roles in sheltering and assisting the families who were targeted in the Anfal campaign.

On this occasion, at a time when the Kurdistan Region is passing through a critical period, we reemphasize the unity and solidarity of all parties and communities in Kurdistan, which is the only path to prosperity and success.

Nechirvan Barzani
The President of the Kurdistan Region