“The Anfal campaign against the Barzanis, perpetrated by the former Iraqi regime, was part of a broader series of atrocities aimed at subjugating the people of Kurdistan and erasing their existence. However, it ultimately failed due to the resilience and determination of the people of Kurdistan, leaving a grim stain on the conscience of the perpetrators,” President Nechirvan Barzani said in a statement.
On July 31, 1983, an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe were rounded up, abducted from their homes in the Zagros Mountains, and taken to the deserts of southern Iraq, where they were killed on the orders of the Baathist regime.
President Barzani further reiterated calls on the Iraqi government to compensate the victims’ families and extended his condolences to their families.
“It is imperative that the Iraqi government take all necessary steps to deliver justice and provide compensation to the victims’ families,” he said.
That call was echoed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who also urged Baghdad to compensate the victims of the genocide.
“The patriotic people of Kurdistan will never forget these crimes, and generation after generation must know that the people of Kurdistan, with all its components, have made great sacrifices to preserve their national identity and legitimate rights,” he said.
The people of Kurdistan will never forget these atrocities.
— Masrour Barzani (@masrourbarzani) July 31, 2025
We must remember, Kurdistan has paid the ultimate sacrifice for its rights and its freedom, and we will never give up.
I salute the martyrs of the Barzani Genocide and all the martyrs of Kurdistan. pic.twitter.com/mERN0Ttr3r
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani also commemorated the tragedy, lamenting that some parties and people in Iraq have not learned from the mistakes of the past.
“The mentality behind this crime and others was one of chauvinism and denial, which has been a source of tragedy and backwardness for all of Iraq,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are still some people who have not learned from history and continue to pursue politics with this same mentality.”
“All parties must understand that as long as this mentality remains, Iraq will never find peace,” the KDP leader stressed.
The atrocity was an act of collective punishment of the Barzanis, whose leaders were active in Kurdish revolts against the Iraqi regime. Men and boys were the primary targets, but women, children, and the elderly were all victims.
It was part of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s broader Anfal campaign against the Kurds. More than 182,000 people were killed and over 4,500 villages were destroyed in eight phases of the Anfal campaign in the 1980s that culminated with the chemical weapon attack on Halabja.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court has recognized the Anfal campaign as constituting genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, but little has been done to compensate the survivors of the victims’ families.
The campaign has also yet to be recognized as genocide by the majority of the international community.
