ANFAL AND LEADERS!
By Dr Kamal Mirawdeli
Translated by Dr Kamal Mirawdeli

KurdishMedia
Updated: 9/13/2006 5:26:05 AM GMT

By Qadir Nadir, from: Hawal, Sulaymaniyah, independent weekly newspaper
in Sorani Kurdish, 9 Sep 06. p 3.

Although Anfal was the greatest act of dishonour to our nation,
it has been reduced by Kurdish leaders to such a degree that to
criticize the Kurdish leaders for insulting [our martyrs] creates
more reaction than the issue of their dishonoring of Anfal victims.

Besides, the anniversary celebrations they organize for their parties
are much more sumptuous and spectacular than the anniversary of Anfal
and Halabja tragedies.

In our country anything you write and say passes as truth. What is
happening here is unprecedented in the history of any nation. People
with background of serving the Ba’th party have now become
theoreticians of our national security; people who participated in
Anfal operations have been put in charge of running the small towns
where Anfal survivors are living; a "writer" who sold his pen to
Ba’th and was a Ba’thist agent is now in the prominent face of the
journal of Kurdish government.

I do not believe that the leaders of any other nations who have
suffered genocide such as the Jews, the Armenians and the Rwanda
people, have ever dared even to give shelter to even one perpetrator
of genocide.

It is only in our country that it is so easy to be a traitor and
sell yourself and then find respect and position. Yes, still we can
hear from the Kurdish officials some nationalist slogans, but when
you look at what is happening in the areas which suffered Anfal,
chemical attacks and Arabisation, you can realize clearly that what
they say is all lies and deception.

I read a story told by a woman who has survived Anfal.

I could not help weeping passionately when I read what she said about
her child. She says she had a little child who was ill. She was taking
care of him and hugging him to her chest when an Arab officer came
to take the child away from him. She hugged him even more closely
to her heart. But the Arab officer kicked her and smacked her hard
then took the child away. She says: Still there is a fire burning in
my liver when I remember his last look and his last two words: Daye,
Daye (Mum, Mum).

I read this and could not stop my tears from flowing as I could vividly
imagine this mother in her night of loneliness and helplessness. And
then, thanks to our leaders, apart from tears what else can we
do? Those leaders who have been sheltering the Anfalists for fifteen
years, and think that the best projects for Anfal women is to force
them to sell bread and eggs on the streets. And the government that
so far has changed five cabinets but has worked more for the comfort
and power of Anfalists than the victims of Anfal.

Let everyone put herself or himself in the place of an Anfal woman. Can
anyone even endure thinking even for few minutes? My own child had only
a simple ailment and he called me in this way. This shattered my soul.

Then how could be the state of the mother who heard her child for
last time? How can she live on? How many terrible stories must she
imagine every day? Has a dog eaten his child after he was killed?

When I read this story I cannot help but think of all those people
who shelter Anfalists and ignore the plight of these women as
criminals too.

I am sure the survivors of Anfal have suffered a lot in the last
fifteen years under the Kurdish political rule. None of the leaders
have ever visited them to tell them: the seats of power and prosperity
we enjoy now are the result of your sacrifice. That is why we will
become the fathers for your orphans. We will have even more kindness
to them [than to our children] and we will never let them to be forced
to wear torn shoes and ragged clothes. They must be as happy as our
children. Instead of your [martyred] brothers, we will become your
brothers and friends. We will not allow anyone to look at you with
disrespect. In place of your fathers, we will make your pains and
suffering the real daily concern of all our party members!

Everyone knows that the process of Anfal and chemical attacks aimed
at the elimination of the Kurdish people. Yet during 15 years of
Kurdish rule no serious major project for serving and benefiting Anfal
victims have been established although they enjoy annual revenues of
several billion dollars. To add insult to injury, the perpetrators
of Anfal roam freely ; they have power and they have roles. Also
internationally nothing has been done to promote the cause of Anfal
and bring onto international political agenda.

Then can we say that these leaders any national honour and dignity
in relation to Anfal?