The Kurdish Genocide Explained

Although the genocide against the Kurdish people in Iraq technically lasted less than one year, the devastation it wreaked on the Kurdish community was unfathomable. Known as the Anfal campaign by the Iraqi government, the name of the campaign was taken from the eighth chapter of the Quran, which refers to "the spoils of war" and reflected the thousands of Kurdish villages that became subject to looting. The use of religious language also came from the fact that President Saddam Hussein tried to portray Kurdish people as heretics.

Over the course of eight stages, the genocidal Anfal campaign sought to liquidate the Kurdish population in Iraq. The Anfal campaign was especially horrific in its use of chemical weapons, leaving many of its survivors with lifelong health problems. And although the Iraqi government denied that any deaths were the result of the war being fought, the Anfal campaign was in fact planned genocide that was executed while the rest of the world watched and said nothing.

Although some of the top perpetrators of the genocide were taken to court, as of 2023 many of the perpetrators and collaborators still have not been held accountable. And despite the fact that the Iraqi court found that government should compensate the victims of the genocide, there have yet to be any reparations made. This is the Kurdish genocide explained.

In 1975, Iraq and Iran signed the Algiers Agreement following the Second Iraqi–Kurdish War, which established the border between Iraq and Iran using the Shatt al Arab River. But after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran was overthrown, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein took advantage of the situation and launched an invasion into Iran, Alexander Mikaberidze writes in "Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World."

The Iran-Iraq War started on September 22, 1980, when Iraq launched airstrikes and a ground invasion into Iran. Iraq invaded Iran's western Khuzestan Province through Iraqi Kurdistan, according to ThoughtCo., both in order to reclaim territory and because President Hussein believed that the Arab population in Khuzestan would support the invasion. Not only did the Arab people of the Khuzestan Province flee instead of joining the Iraqi invasion, but the Iranian army was able to mobilize sooner than President Hussein had anticipated and were able to repel the invasion. As a result, what was expected to be a quick invasion became a drawn-out war that would last eight long years, according to "The Kurdish Struggle, 1920-94" by E. O'Ballance.

Ultimately, despite resulting in up to 1.5 million deaths (per The Guardian), the Iran-Iraq War ended in a stalemate on August 20, 1988, through a ceasefire brokered by the United Nations. But during the final year of the war, the Iraqi government focused their attention on the Iraqi Kurdish population and unleashed a genocidal campaign.

In early 1987, Hassan Ali Al-Majid was appointed head of the Northern Bureau by his cousin, President Saddam Hussein, and he was given unlimited powers with regard to addressing the Kurdish resistance. Before long, Al-Majid became known as "Chemical Ali" due to his flagrant use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in Iraq.

According to Institut Kurde de Paris, Al-Majid's first chemical attack was executed on April 15, 1987, against roughly 30 Kurdish villages in the Sulaymaniyah and Erbil provinces. The villages were bombed with mustard gas and within several hours, NPR reports that children were some of the first to start vomiting from the exposure. Another chemical attack was also directed at the Balisan valley on April 17. Many women who were pregnant ended up miscarrying as a result of the chemical attacks. And when those who survived in the Balisan valley tried to go to Erbil for medical attention, they were shot by the army. It's unknown exactly how many died during these chemical attacks, but it's estimated that 400 people were killed in the Balisan attack alone. 

According to "The Modern History of Iraq" by Phebe Marr, more than 500 villages were destroyed and occupied between April and June 1987, often using chemical attacks. After the attacks, Kurdish villagers would be displaced to camps where few survived.

The First Anfal campaign took place between February 23 and March 19, 1988. Targeting the headquarters of the PUK in the villages of Sergalou and Bergalou in Jafati valley, the Iraqi army attacked the area with chemical rounds and bombs, hitting numerous villages including Yakhsamar, Bargallu, Chokhmakh, and Haladin. According to the Mass Violence and Resistance – Research Network, because Hassan Al-Majid had been using chemical attacks frequently, some of the PUK peshmerga had been able to stockpile gas masks and nerve gas antidotes by the time the First Anfal campaign started.

The PUK managed to fight back against the Iraqi army for three weeks, but by mid-March they were forced to retreat. Choman Hardi writes in "Gendered Experiences of Genocide" that the peshmerga cleared an escape path to Iran for people to escape through and although over 80 people froze to death during this escape, the majority made it into Iran safely. Unfortunately, those who were later convinced to return by the Iraqi army were executed.

In an attempt to split the Iraqi army's attention during the fighting, a group of PUK peshmerga and Iranian Revolutionary Guards occupied Halabja in March 1988. But this unfortunately led to a swift retaliation by the Iraqi army in the form of an intense chemical attack against the city, which had a population of almost 80,000. Thousands of people were killed in what became the largest chemical weapons strike against a civilian population, per Federation of American Scientists.

After Kurdish civilians were expelled from the villages with chemical weapons, the Iraqi army would move in and begin looting the village before running a demolition crew over it. Some residents would even be forced to watch the destruction as they were placed under arrest, per "Gendered Expressions of Genocide."

During the Anfal campaigns, over 4,500 Kurdish villages were destroyed, according to "Genocidal Nightmares," edited by Abdelwahab El-Affendi. After driving out the villagers with chemical weapons and calls of fake amnesty, the military units would take any and all property that they wanted. They were told, "You shall take any peshmerga's property that you may seize while fighting them. Their wives are lawfully yours (hallal), as are their sheep and cattle," per Human Rights Watch.

After being looted, many villages were burned up. Afterward, any trace of them was demolished by bulldozers as an entire community was razed to the ground. Ekurd writes that the Iraqi military were also sometimes assisted by Kurdish collaborators, known as the mustashar and the jash. In some areas, the jash and the military units didn't limit their destruction to Kurdish villages and destroyed some pro-regime villages as well.

The Kurdish genocide took place over eight Anfal campaigns, lasting from February to September 1988. During the eight Anfal stages, the Iraqi government targeted the Jafati valley, Qara Dagh, Germian, the Lesser Zab valley, the valleys of Shaqlawa and Rawanduz, and Badinan, according to Human Rights Watch. The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Anfal campaigns all targeted the same area due to the fact that the Fifth Anfal failed; Choman Hardi writes that repeated offensives were required by the Iraqi army to take control of the area.

The Anfal campaigns were committed in broad daylight, literally and metaphorically. The Iraqi media would report on the "heroic Anfal campaigns" and its military operations against civilians weren't kept a secret, according to "Origins of the Kurdish Genocide." The international community, including the United States, was also well-aware of the genocide that was being committed, but only former President Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria issued any statement against the Iraqi government.

Mohammed Shareef writes in "The United States, Iraq and the Kurds" that because the United States and other countries saw Iraq as an ally against Iran, they were more than willing to ignore Iraq's use of chemical weapons against both Iranians and its own civilians.

Reports vary as to exactly how many people were murdered during the Kurdish genocide, ranging from 50,000 up to nearly 200,000 people, according to PBS. Roughly 160,000 Kurdish people fled to Iran and Turkey as they were displaced, writes Aram Rafaat in "Kurdistan in Iraq," while another 500,000,the majority of whom were elderly people, women, and children, were resettled. According to "Gendered Experiences of Genocide," most Kurdish men between the ages of 15 and 50 were targeted during the genocide and as a result, they either fled or were murdered.

According to "Genocidal Nightmares," up to one million Kurdish people were displaced by the genocidal Anfal campaign, representing roughly one-third of the Kurdish population in Iraq. And Kurdish people weren't the only ethnic group targeted by the Anfal campaign. Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Yazidi people were also ignored in the October 1987 census and thus part of the purge. And Choman Hardi writes that because the general amnesty only applied to Kurdish people, they weren't given any chance to return to their homeland.

Many who survived the genocidal Anfal campaign also found their health in a precarious condition due to the chemical attacks. PLoS One writes that many who were subjected to chemical attacks ended up with lifelong respiratory conditions. Among some survivors, cancer, sterility, and congenital abnormalities were also discovered at extremely high rates, per "Forgotten Genocides," edited by René Lemarchand.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath regime in 2003, numerous mass graves have been discovered that are connected to the Kurdish genocide. In 2019 alone, four mass graves were discovered in the al-Muthanna province, reports Al Jazeera. As of 2021, 63 mass graves in total had been discovered. But according to Medya News, the process of returning bodies so that they can be buried in their homeland is moving slowly.

Despite the fact that the Anfal campaign can be accurately described as a genocide, the Iraqi government is the only government in the world that recognizes it as such. Al Jazeera reports that although the British, Swedish, Norwegian, and South Korean parliaments all agree that the Anfal campaigns meet the definition of genocide, they stop short at official recognition because otherwise they could be held accountable for arming Iraq at the time.

In 1991, collaborators of the Anfal campaign were given amnesty by the Kurdistan Front coalition, according to the London School of Economics. And although over 250 arrest warrants were issued for Kurdish collaborators by the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal in 2010, many continue to avoid accountability due to their powerful connections. Over 30 years later, the families of the victims of the Kurdish genocide are still fighting for recognition and justice.