Al-Zaydi recalls the “Anfal of the Barzani family” and praises the federal democratic system in Iraq.
Al-Zaydi recalls the “Anfal of the Barzani family” and praises the federal democratic system in Iraq.
2026-07-31
Shafaq News – Baghdad
Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi issued a statement on Friday commemorating the “Anfal of the Barzani people” in the Kurdistan Region, while praising the federal democratic system in Iraq.
Al-Zaydi said in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency: “The memory of our Iraqi people in general, and our Kurdish people in particular, is passing over the 43rd anniversary of the Baathist regime’s crime against the Kurdish national movement, the genocide against the Barzanis, as part of a series of repression and attempts to crush identity, spread mass graves and instill terror, which ultimately failed to break the will of our Iraqi people who reject tyranny and dictatorship.”
He added: “We offer our condolences to our Kurdish people, and to the leadership of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, especially Masoud Barzani, on this painful occasion. We express our pride in those great sacrifices that, along with the sacrifices of Iraqis from all components, contributed to the dawn of freedom and the establishment of our federal democratic system in which everyone enjoys constitutional rights, dignity, and respect.”
Al-Zaydi concluded his statement by saying: “We affirm the continuation of sincere national work to confront all challenges, for the sake of a strong, free, and fully sovereign Iraq.”
It is worth mentioning that on July 31, 1983, the former regime arrested about 8,000 citizens from the Barzan region in the province, and transferred them to desert areas in southern Iraq where they were liquidated and buried in mass graves.
On May 3, 2011, the Iraqi High Criminal Court issued a ruling that deemed the Anfal operations of the Barzani family a “crime against humanity and genocide.”
These events were followed by the widespread Anfal campaigns of violence in 1988 led by Ali Hassan al-Majid, which affected several areas in the region, including the Halabja chemical weapons attack on March 16, 1988.
After 2003, the pillars of the former regime were arrested, a number of them were convicted, and death sentences were issued against those involved, most notably Ali Hassan al-Majid.
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