Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Genocide of Kurds Under the Name of Anfal


The Genocide of Kurds Under the Name of Anfal

What is the definition of Anfal?
The Middle East defined the process of Anfal as, "Anfal is a name given to a series of inhumane attacks done by the brutal Ba'th soldiers. The whole process of Anfal consisted of eight attacks that were taken place in six different places. On September 17th, 1987. the condemned Ba'th regime had census in the whole Iraq.  After four months of the census, the process of Anfal started. The first series of Anfal started on February 22th, 1988. The process was ruled by one of the Ba'th Office from the North. After a while, it was run by Ali Hassan Majed."
Dr. Azad Muhammed Amen, a professor in the Salahaden University defined the process of Anfal as, " According to our perspective, the process of Anfal didn't only consist of the attacks of Ba'th Regime's troops against the Kurdistan villages and Peshmarga- Kurdish Soldiers, but it was a well- organized process of destroying thousands of villages in Kurdistan. After the process of Anfal, the destroyed Kurdish villages were bombarded with Chemical bombs. Those innocent Kurdish people who were not killed by the chemical bombardment, were arrested by Ba'th regime. Then they were conveyed to the Ba'th Campus. After that, the process of classifying the arrested people took place, and they were transferred to different places. Women and children were sent to their special campus. However, the elder people were sent to the jails from the South of Iraq. Also, Those people who were between (15-50) years old were sent to death. Before the process of Anfal started, the graves had been prepared for Kurds. Countless Kurdish people were disappeared without giving any explanation and judgments.

What were the reasons of the process so-called Anfal?
1. The geography of Kurdistan is very important. That is why it has been the battle field of various wars between different countries and nations ever since. Saddam was trying to invade it in order to get the significance of its geography.
2. It was an attempt to unbalance the Number of Youths both boys and girls between Kurdistan- The North of Iraq, and Iraq- The South. It is undeniable that the best way to reduce the number of youths is to arrest them, and kill them. Their main goal was to decline the number of boys in Kurdistan.
3. A part of Iraq, especially the mountain and the wild areas were controlled by Peshmarga. The Ba'th Regime thought that they had right to fight in order to get back the control  of that part.
4. The Ba'th Party announced that Kurds made problems for Arabs. They said that Kurds were the only obstacle for the Arab Unity. The Ba'th regime claimed, "If we get rid of Kurds and bring back Kurdistan to Iraq, there will be the real unity between Arabs." Their approach of getting rid of Kurds in Iraq was done by the Process of Anfal. Don't You Think Kurds Were the Real Victim of Genocide? 
5. The military and economic support of foreign countries was another reason that encouraged the Ba'th Party to start the process of Anfal. Post Helterman, a member of Human Rights Watch in America, thought, "If the military, political, and economic support of Foreign and International countries weren't provided to Ba'th, the process of Anfal wouldn't have been applied successfully.
6. Iraqi leaders and commanders were taught that Kurds were inhuman. Iraqi leaders and commanders were psychologically affected. They were told that Kurds controlled a part of Iraq, but the Iraqi leaders  have to get it back. Therefore, the main aim of Iraqi leaders were to bring the end of Kurds.

What were the results of Anfal?
1. Almost all the Kurdistan region was bombarded by the chemical weapon.
2. Destroying almost all the villages in Kurdistan.
3. Almost all the Kurdistan villages underwent Looting and Prowling our wealth and treasure by Ba'th Regime. Besides that, sheep, goat, cars, and possessions were stolen.
4. Those Kurdish girls who were between 15-29 were sent to Egypt; I am sorry, They were not sent, but sold to Egypt.  Egypt bought the girls from The Ba'th party. Till now, there are a lot of families in my region waiting for their girls to come back, but who knows where their daughters are now?
5. Five thousand (5,000) people called" Kurdi Fali" were arrested. We don't know what happened to them. The only thing we know is that THEY were taken from Kurdistan, but we don't know where they were taken to.
6. Eight thousand (8,000) people called Barzani were arrested in a place in Kurdistan called Barzan. The only thing we know is that we don't know what happened to them, and we don't know where they were killed and buried.
7. More dangerously, (182,000) Kurdish innocent people were arrested from all over Kurdistan in a few months regardless to age and gender. The 182,000 arrested Kurds included women and many children who were still drinking MILK. " For which sin?" What did a 1 month child do to Ba'th? The child even couldn't speak. For Which sin?
The only Sin that Kurds had was, "They Were Kurds." Under the power of Saddam, it was a big sin and transgression to be a Kurd. If you were a Kurd, You deserved death without any question.
8. Those people who were rescued from the process of Anfal faced social and psychological problems. They were left with no one. Imagine a family in which you are the only one rescued; your father, mother, siblings were either killed or taken to un-known places and Campos. Can you envision how sorrowful and painful your life would be?
There are many more reasons, but History is responsible to convey them to you, and the world.
The Process of Anfal started on February 23th, 1988 from the valley of Gafayaty; after its eight series in six different places in Kurdistan, It ended on August 6th, 1988 in Baddnan.
I got most of the information from the book of 12th grade.

By,  Hersh  Seidgul Abdullah,
A Student at AUIS.