The Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) Executive Council released a statement to mark the anniversary of the Halabja and Anfal massacres.

The statement said: “On March 16, 1988, the invading Iraqi forces carried out a massive massacre in Halabja using banned chemical weapons. 5,000 innocent people were killed in the massacre.

The statement continued: “What happened in Halabja is one of the greatest disasters of the 20th century. In a few hours, 5,000 people were killed. In the last century, our people have been subjected to great massacres. Unfortunately, these massacres were not recognized as genocide. Several attempts were made to urge the relevant institutions to recognize these mass slaughters as genocide, but only their humanitarian dimension was recognized, not their political aspect.”

The statement noted that further massacres continued all over Kurdistan and the Yazidi people and residents of Afrin and Cizre have been subjected to similar massacres recently.

The statement concluded with a call for all political forces to promote unity and solidarity in order to prevent further massacres.