“Grave Insult”: Advocacy groups condemn partisan categorization of Anfal Kurdish genocide victims
Shafaq News/ The designation ofKurdish genocide victims from the Anfal campaign as "martyrs" of theKurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is"unacceptable,” organizations focused on addressing genocide against Kurdssaid on Wednesday.
Hemin Haseeb, the media coordinatorfor these organizations, told Shafaq News Agency, "The partisancategorization of Kurdish genocide victims is unacceptable. With deep regretand astonishment, the General Director of the Mass Graves Directorate at Iraq’sMartyrs Foundation, Diyaa Karim, made irrational statements during twotelevision interviews, describing the victims of the Anfal crimes as martyrs ofthe PUK and the Barzani genocide victims as martyrs of the KDP."
"This is a grave insult to thevictims of the genocide," he added. "This categorization represents aserious disrespect for the Iraqi High Criminal Court's rulings, whichrecognized the crimes committed against the Kurds as acts of genocide."
The official also pointed out thatKarim's remarks followed the discovery of a mass grave for Anfal victims in Talal-Sheikhiyah, Samawa desert, which reportedly included the remains of childrenas young as one month. "How can an infant, who has yet to understand life,be categorized along partisan lines?" he questioned.
Speaking on behalf of writers,activists, and organizations opposing genocide against the Kurdish people, theofficial strongly rejected these statements and called for Karim to be summonedby the Parliamentary Committee for an investigation into his remarks.
Haseeb further requested an officialstatement from the director of the Mass Graves Directorate to be issued in bothArabic and Kurdish, containing a "clear and explicit apology" to thesouls of the victims of the Kurdish genocide.
Anfal Campaign
The Anfal campaign, which began in1986 and intensified in 1988 before continuing until 1989, was led by AliHassan al-Majid, infamously known as "Chemical Ali," who was theSecretary General of the Ba'ath Party's Northern Bureau and served as theregion's military governor, while the military operations were commanded byformer Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim.
On May 3, 2011, the Iraqi HighCriminal Court classified the Anfal campaign as a "crime against humanityand genocide" and convicted al-Majid, who was also responsible for achemical attack on Halabja. Al-Majid was sentenced to death, and the executiontook place on January 25, 2010.
The Kurdistan Regional Governmenthas designated April 14 annually as a day of remembrance for the victims ofthis genocide.
