Southern Kurdistan: Today was the 22nd anniversary of the “Enfal” the Kurdish Genocide carried out against the Kurds with a mysterious silence from the Arabs and the International Communities.
From 23 February 1988, the Kurds were subjected to 8 systematic military offensives by the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. These operations were known as ‘Enfal’ during which 182,000 innocent Kurds were massacred and buried alive in mass graves. This project aimed at changing the demographic make-up of Kurdistan by eliminating the indigenous Kurdish population and replacing it with the Arabs settlers. ‘Enfal’ campaign continued for six months and two weeks. The bodies of victims reported missing and their identity were never revealed. Fearing reprisal, their relatives and beloved ones were neither able to hold a simple funeral nor they could designate a spot for their corpse in the cemetery. Every human at least deserve a decent burial but they were not even allowed to have that.
In the wake of the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, numerous mass graves were unearthed in the deserts. During the ‘Enfal’ campaign at least 5,000 Kurdish villages and towns were destroyed and their occupants were either buried alive or butchered in the hands of the former Iraqi’s dictator. Those who survived the military operations of ‘Enfal’ were settled in provisional concentration camps under military surveillance at all times. These long lasting military operations occurred in front of the international communities and the media. The former Iraqi dictator armed with the Western weapons committed one of the most horrendous crimes against humanity but the Western Powers decided to stay silence for the sake of their economic interests.
The world’s largest weapon manufacturing companies turned Kurdistan into the environments of lethal toxic each day affecting the lives of tens of thousands of humans as well as other living beings including the vegetation and the natural lives of Kurdistan. The villages that were the birthplace of the Mesopotamian Civilization were demolished to the ground.