The Anfal Campaign (Iraqi Kurdistan), 1988

[alan131210]

Kurdish government launches online presence for Kurdish genocide campaign
04/08/2012 19:41

ERBIL, August 4 (AKnews) - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has launched a website, Twitter account and Facebook page as part of its campaign to raise international awareness of the Kurdish genocide.

The KRG launched an online petition in March calling the British government to recognize the attacks against the Kurds as genocide.

Some 100,000 British citizens need to sign the petition to activate a debate in the British parliament. The long-term aim is to encourage the United Nations and the European Union also to recognize the attacks as genocide.

The details of the campaign’s online presence are:

Website - www.justice4genocide.com

Twitter - www.twitter.com/justicegenocide

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/KurdishGenocideEPetition

Online petition - http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31014

[alan131210]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti-TAbzFJpc&feature=plcp&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

[alan131210]

ERBIL, Aug.11 (AKnews)- Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs tomorrow will begin its preparation for restoring the remains of 159 Anfal victims from Hamrin Mountain Range, Ministry's spokesperson said.

AnfalA committee from the Ministry will visit Garmiyan to set the stage for the ceremony of restoring the remains and their reburial in the disputed area, said Fuad Osman.

The ceremony will take place after Ide al-Fitr when the committee ends with the preparations.

Osman said there are almost 70 mass graves in Hamrin Mountain Chain and the Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs has unearthed only some of them which were six meters deep.

In 1980s hundreds of thousand Iraqi Kurds were killed in a campaign called Anfal. The people were taken to southern and central Iraqi provinces to be killed and buried in mass graves.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein regime the government has begun digging the graves and restores the remains to the original places of the victims.

[unitedkurdistan]

Sara Omar Halabja The Danish Parliament Kurdish And Danish Poem English Subtitles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duCCayGR_Ws&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

[alan131210]

ERBIL, August 28 (AKnews) – A photography exhibition on the Anfal genocide and Danielle Mitterrand - the wife of late French President François Mitterrand - will open in Duhok today.

On the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Anfal massacre and as a mark of respect for Mitterrand’s role, the General Directorate of Culture and Youth in Duhok will open the exhibition by journalist photographer Shukri Barwari.

The exhibition will open at 11:30am at Gallery Hall in the city under the name "Madam Danielle Mitterrand, Kurds and Anfal".

The exhibition will be held under the supervision of the Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, said a statement from the Kurdistan Regional Government.

Journalist photographers Jean-Luc Simon, Pascal Ron and Shukri Barwari will participate in the exhibition in cooperation with French newspaper Le Monde and the France Libertés - Fondation Danielle Mitterrand, which was headed by Mitterrand.

The exhibition includes more than 130 photos that express the Anfal massacre, camps in Mardin and Diarbakir, and Mitterrand’s visit to these camps in Turkey and Syria.

Mitterrand died in November 2011, aged 87.

[alan131210]

Martyr & Anfal minister










xendan

[alan131210]

http://rudaw.net/kurdish/index.php/news/16891-400.html

[alan131210]

vid of Kak Massod crying during the Anfal anniversary in Duhok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31lPX7jLzu8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

[alan131210]

Halabja monument

[alan131210]

Justice4genocide is supported by the Kurdistan Regional Government and some British MPs

By Glen Campbell, BBC World Service News Reporter

Kurds in Britain have begun a campaign for the mass murder of their people in Iraq in the late-1980s to be formally recognised as genocide.

At least 180,000 Kurds were killed by Saddam Hussein's forces.

The justice4genocide campaign says many more died in atrocities carried out by regimes from the 1960s onwards.

It is petitioning the UK government to declare the mass killing of Kurds as a genocide and press the European Union and United Nations to do the same.

The campaign has the support of a number of British MPs and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

The KRG's representative in Britain, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, said she hoped the campaign would eventually lead to trials at the international criminal court.

Ms Rahman said: "Different people were responsible through different decades, so there are many, many people who have blood on their hands.

"Even though Saddam Hussein was charged with genocide he wasn't actually tried for genocide so that's another frustration for survivors."

Both Hussein and his cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid - known as Chemical Ali - were put to death.

Towards the end of the Iran-Iraq war, they targeted the Kurdish population in the north of Iraq.

In the most notorious attack, warplanes dropped chemical bombs on the town of Halabja, killing 5,000 men, women and children.

Shaho Qadir was 13 at the time. A bomb blew off both his legs. "It was like a nightmare for me. It was just unbelievable - in one second losing your legs. You can't believe it," he said.

Mr Qadir joined justice4genocide to gather signatures for their petition in London, where campaigners read out the names of some of those killed.

A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said: "It is clear that appalling atrocities have been perpetrated against the Iraqi Kurds and other minorities.

"We have always condemned those crimes, which caused so much suffering to so many people.

"Today, we work closely with all of the people of Iraq to help support a stable, democratic and prosperous country where such atrocities can never happen again."

For more information please see www.justice4genocide.com

[RawandKurdistani]

vid of Kak Massod crying during the Anfal anniversary in Duhok

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31lPX7jLzu8&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

What the hell is the iraqi flag doing next to ours! We suffered under the baathist animals, and now that ugly flag stands in an Anfal anniversary

[alan131210]

Shit go tell me about it

[Anthea]

What the hell is the iraqi flag doing next to ours! We suffered under the baathist animals, and now that ugly flag stands in an Anfal anniversary

Iraqis have NO shame

[RawandKurdistani]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXrbxjS-cxs&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1   

[Cewlik]

British parliament unanimously recognises Kurdish genocide

London, UK - (KRG.org) - Today the British parliament unanimously recognised the Kurdish genocide in Iraq while the government and opposition pledged to work together do more on acknowledging the genocide even though the government does not formally recognise it.

The formal recognition by the British parliament comes after a year-long campaign to raise awareness of the genocide in Britain and to gather signatures for a petition calling on Britain to formally acknowledge that the crimes committed against the Kurds amounted to genocide. Almost 28,000 people have signed the petition so far.

Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani welcomed the decision and thanked those who campaigned and the MPs who spoke in the debate. He said, "The British parliament's recognition of the genocide follows similar acknowledgements by the Norwegian and Swedish parliaments last year. We thank them all and hope that this will inspire our friends and friends of human rights and freedom in other countries to do the same. We must all stand together against tyranny, wherever it may appear."

The Kurdistan Regional Government's Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs Aram Ahmed said, "This was a milestone for the Kurdish people, especially the victims of the genocide, and we thank the British parliament for their support for those who suffered so much. The parliament's decision and the government's positive attitude means we are a step closer to wider international recognition and justice."

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the KRG's High Representative to the UK, said, "The recognition today was a major and historic step forward for all Kurds. Parliament unanimously recognised the genocide. The British government Minister for the Middle East was so moved by the passionate advocacy of the case for recognising the genocide that he moved away from his prepared speech and committed the government to work with the Labour opposition to work out how the British Government could make its position on the genocide more positive. This is a very unusual development. We must thank the Kurdish community and all those who signed the petition, and the members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Kurdistan Region who spoke so compellingly in the debate."

The debate was attended by the Minister, the High Representative, the chief of mission at the Iraqi Embassy Dr Muhiadin Hussein and over 100 members of the Kurdish community and British friends of Kurdistan.

Nadhim Zahawi, the first Kurdish-born British MP, put forward the motion that the British parliament recognises the Kurdish genocide and will encourage governments, the United Nations and European Union to do the same. He began the debate by speaking of his own family's flight from Iraq for fear of being killed by the Baathist regime.

He and other members of parliament from the two main political parties, Conservative and Labour, spoke of the crimes committed against the Kurds over several decades, the chemical bombardment of Halabja, the disappearance of the Barzanis and the Anfal campaign in which 182,000 were killed.

They all called for recognition of the crimes committed against the Kurds as genocide. They also highlighted the good relationship between the Kurdistan Region and the UK and the Kurdish people's hospitality and optimism. They pointed out that other European parliaments and the Iraqi courts had already recognised the genocide formally.

Ian Lucas, the opposition's Shadow Middle East Minister, echoed the sentiments of the speakers and called for the MPs, the government, opposition and KRG to work together on the government's position on the issue of recognition. The British government in February said that no one suffered more than the Kurds in Iraq but that it was not up to governments to recognise genocides, it was up to the international courts.

However, following the passionate speeches by several MPs, Alistair Burt, the Middle East Minister, said during the debate that the government will work with the opposition party to collectively find a way to do more on acknowledging the genocide even though the government does not formally recognise it.

He also spoke about the strong relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government and Britain, his two visits to the region and the many visits to the UK by Kurdish officials. He said he had listened to the debate carefully which included moving advocacy from MPs. He said he had great sympathy with the motion of the debate and the government would find the parliamentary debate helpful.

The motion was then put to a vote and was unanimously carried.

The speakers included Meg Munn, Robert Halfon, David Anderson, Ann Clwyd, Jeremy Corbyn, Mike Gapes, David Lamy, Stephen Metcalfe and Bob Stewart.

http://www.krg.org/a/d.aspx?s=010000&l=12&a=46796