JINHA

HALABJA - 28 years ago, Halabja massacre, one of the largest massacres in human history, took place on March 16, 1988. After the massacre, according to official figures, 5,000 people, mostly children and women, were killed. The survivors had cancer due to chemical attack. The pain is as if it happened only yesterday despite 28 years passed. “If you don’t unite, we will face many massacres like Halabja,” warned Halabja women.

Kurds have faced to massacres since Ottoman times. Yesterday, they faced the massacres of Halabja, Roboski and today the massacres of Cizre, Nusaybin, Silopi and Sur. A chemical attack was launched in the Halabja one city in northeast of Iraq on March 15, 1988 by the order of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Iraqi forces used multiple chemical agents during the attack, including sulfur mustard (mustard gas), nerve agents and blood agent hydrogen cyanide and they annihilated a city. The attack killed at least 5,000 people mostly children and women and injured 7,000 to 10,000 more. After the massacre, some journalists entered the city secretly and they took the photographs of the massacre. They announced the massacre to the whole world. The survivors faced many diseases after the massacre. Thousands of people got skin, throat, and lung cancers. Many babes were born physically handicapped. According to researches, the number of children, who were born with disabilities in Halabfa until 2000 are more than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Saddam Hussein was sentenced for Halabja massacre and genocide against the Kurds. He was executed by hanging on December 30, 2006.

After the bombardment, many Kurdish children were disappeared. Just some of them turned back to their families. One of the disappeared children was Meryem Barutçiyan. She was raised by an Iranian family for 27 years. Meryem Barutçiyan turned back to Halabja last year to find her family. After the DNA test, she found her family. She gave a message that time, “Now, I know I am from Halabja. They don’t know the oppression they gave to Halabja children. No one knows what we lived. They know us as died. But we are alive. I and Zimnako turned back by our efforts. I don’t want anything, just my family. I want to have a peaceful home.”

Şewnim Abdullah Mixemed has to fight against many diseases after saved from the massacre. Şewnim lost her four children and brother. She gor cancer due to the gases used in the massacre. She has figthed against the diseases for eight years. Şewnim stated that her children have disappeared. Sewnim reached the insensitivity of the government. “If you don’t unite, we will face many massacres like Halabja. We still live with the pain and traces of the massacre. The government doesn’t support us.”

(mg/gd)