ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Two Swedish members of parliament from the Social Democrats (S) political party, Ola Moller and Kadir Kasirga, on Monday attended a memorial ceremony for victims of the Anfal campaign in Duhok province, north of the Kurdistan Region.
Speaking to Rudaw, MP Moller stated, “For us in Sweden, it is both important and an honor to be here and attend this memorial because the Anfal campaign stands as one of the gravest examples of atrocities committed against people. A genocide like that should never have been allowed to happen.”
The Anfal campaign was launched in the late 1980s by toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Carried out in eight phases across the Kurdistan Region, it claimed the lives of more than 182,000 Kurds and destroyed over 4,500 villages.
One of Anfal’s most infamous attacks took place on March 16, 1988, near the end of the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, when the Saddam Hussein-led Baath regime bombed the city of Halabja with chemical weapons. The gruesome attack killed at least 5,000 people - mostly women and children - and injured thousands more.
Moller emphasized that Stockholm has dedicated “a memorial day for the chemical attack on Halabja every year, where we commemorate and remember the victims for this terrible, terrible campaign.”
The Swedish parliamentarian added, “We are very very honored to be here,” stressing that “it is very crucial for us to never forget and to say never again [will we allow such atrocities to take place], though sadly, the world continues to fail, over and over again in preventing them.”
Moller reaffirmed that his country and the Social Democrats party he is affiliated with “will always stand with victims against tyrants who carry out such terrible attacks.”
For his part, MP Kasirga, known for his advocacy on Kurdish and human rights issues, told Rudaw that “it is very important that the new generation which is growing up in Kurdistan are taught through their education not to forget this day,” referencing the Halabja chemical attack.
The Anfal campaign remains a painful chapter and turning point in Kurdish history, symbolizing both the brutal repression endured under Saddam Hussein’s Baath regime and the ongoing struggle for justice.
The memories of men and boys rounded up, tied together, shot, and buried in mass graves, as well as the horrific conditions faced by women and children in camps, remain etched in the Kurdish collective memory.
Although Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court recognized Anfal as a crime against humanity in 2008, little has been done since to support the survivors or families of the victims.
It is important to note that Anfal was just one part of a broader campaign of genocide against the Kurdish people that spanned decades. This included the forced demographic changes in Kirkuk during the 1960s, the disappearance of Faili Kurds in the 1970s, and the infamous chemical attack on Halabja in 1988.
