ERBIL — Top Kurdish leaders on Friday paid tribute to the victims of Anfal campaign in Badinan 35 years ago, and called for the implementation of Article 132 of the Iraqi constitution, which demands that families of Anfal victims be fairly compensated.
"On the anniversary of the Anfal campaign in Badinan, we pay our respects to the martyrs and victims of Anfal, and reiterate that the Iraqi government should compensate for the genocide, crimes, and injustices committed against our nation," Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in a similar statement noted: "The crime of Anfal is recognized by the Iraqi High Criminal Court as genocide, crime against humanity and war crime. Therefore, we reiterate that the Iraqi government must compensate the families of the victims as soon as possible; more services must be provided to the families of the victims and every effort should be made to document the crime of Anfal and make it internationally recognized as genocide."

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also urged authorities in the federal government of Iraq to compensate victims of the genocide campaigns committed by the former Iraqi regime.
“On this occasion, we reiterate that it is a fair right of the people of Kurdistan, families of the victims of the former Iraqi regime in particular, to be fairly compensated and reassured that they will not face genocide again,” the Prime Minister added.
During the Anfal campaign in Badinan area, thousands of innocent people were subjected to a ruthless campaign of abduction, disappearance, and mass murder under the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein 35 years ago.
The campaign also led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people as well as the destruction of hundreds of villages in Badinan due to Saddam Hussein’s use of banned weapons of mass destruction.
The Kurds suffered greatly under Saddam Hussein's Baath regime, enduring multiple genocidal campaigns. These included the tragic Halabja chemical bombardment that claimed the lives of over 5,000 innocent people, the abduction and subsequent murder of 8,000 Barzanis in the 1980s, and the notorious Anfal campaign which resulted in the deaths of approximately 182,000 Kurds.