Kurdistan Regional Government Statement on the Anniversary of the Halabja Massacre

WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq Representative to the United States, Qubad J. Talabani, released the following statement today in commemoration of the anniversary of the chemical gas attacks against Kurdish civilians in the town of Halabja in 1988:

On this, the 22nd anniversary of the Genocide of Halabja—which took the lives of more than 5,000 Kurdish civilians, including women and children—the people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq commemorate those innocents lost during this horrific event, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Kurdish lives taken by the atrocities committed against them during the genocidal regime of Saddam Hussein. We also take this opportunity to give thanks to American military forces and to the United States for liberating Iraq and for their continued support for the people of Kurdistan as we seek to contribute to the realization of a stable, federal and democratic Iraq.

The Halabja anniversary is not, however, just a time for the people of the Kurdistan Region to look back. It is a time for us to heal, to seek closure and to look forward. This year in particular represents a singular confluence of what is now behind us—with the execution of Ali Hassan al Majid, or "Chemical Ali"—and what is ahead—with Iraq's recent parliamentary elections, which will determine the country's future. The people of Iraqi Kurdistan remain determined in this time. The justice brought to Chemical Ali did not bring rejoicing as much as it did a sober acknowledgment, like with each constitutionally-guaranteed vote we cast, that we are taking real steps to ensure the Iraqi government does not inflict the types of crimes seen by Saddam Hussein's regime ever again against anyone. The people of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq will never forget Halabja.

This has been distributed by Qorvis Communications, LLC on behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government. More information is available at the US Department of Justice, Washington, DC.

SOURCE Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq

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