ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Kurdistan Region’s senior leaders on Friday marked the 43rd anniversary of the Barzani Genocide at the hands of Iraq’s fallen Baath regime, reminding the current Baghdad government of its legal and moral responsibility to provide reparations for the families of the victims.

President Masoud Barzani in a statement described the Barzani Genocide as “the beginning of a series of systematic crimes” by the Saddam Hussein regime, aimed at “erasing the identity and breaking the will of our people for freedom,” stressing that the wounds of the massacres committed against the Kurdish people remain unhealed.

“During the Barzani Anfal, the former Iraqi regime detained 8,000 Barzani men, young and old, simply because they were Barzanis and Kurds, and after deporting them, massacred them in an inhuman manner in the deserts of southern Iraq,” wrote the Kurdish leader.

President Barzani saluted the victims of the tragedy and expressed appreciation for the resilience of their families and loved ones, while emphasizing that “it is the duty of the Iraqi state to compensate the Kurdish people for all the crimes and oppressions committed against them in the past century.”

On July 31, 1983, Iraqi regime forces, by orders of fallen dictator Saddam Hussein, abducted an estimated 8,000 members of the Barzani tribe from their homes in the Zagros mountains, before executing them in the deserts of southern Iraq and burying them in mass graves.

The massacre was part of the Baath regime’s wider genocidal campaign against the Kurdish population called Anfal, during which over 182,000 Kurds were killed and thousands of Kurdish villages were wiped out and destroyed.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani also honored the memory of the Barzani Genocide victims, calling the massacre “one of the most heinous crimes committed by the former Iraqi regime.”

“The people of Kurdistan will never forget these atrocities, we remember the sacrifices made in pursuit of our legitimate rights. We will never give up our national achievements, and we will continue to defend them in every way,” read a statement from the Kurdish premier.

The prime minister renewed his call on the federal government to “fulfill its constitutional duty and moral responsibility to compensate the families of the victims of the acts of genocide, the Anfal campaign, and the families of every victim of the brutal former Iraqi regime.”

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani similarly saluted the Barzani men who were slaughtered during the Anfal campaign, showing appreciation for the Barzani wives and mothers for their resilience and courage, and for raising “a patriotic generation for the future of Kurdistan.”

He defined the Barzani Genocide and the Anfal campaign as “deep wounds” that only strengthened the will of the Kurdish people, reiterating that Baghdad has a moral and legal duty to compensate the families of all victims of the Baath regime.

“We reiterate that the bitterness of the past and the pain of tragedies must become lessons for the future and the foundation for consolidating a culture of mutual acceptance and solidarity, so that respect for unity, understanding, and lasting peace brings together all communities in Iraq and all live together with dignity and pride,” the statement added.