World
The burial ceremony for 100 Barzani victims of the Anfal genocide on July 31, 2022. Photo: Bilind T. Abdullah/Rudaw
NEW YORK, United States - In a distinct effort, Yale University - one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world - on Wednesday expressed commitment to archive documents and evidence related to genocide committed against the Kurdish people.
The announcement was made during a major academic conference titled “History and Legacy of the Kurdish Genocide,” held at Yale’s MacMillan Center in Connecticut.
The event brought together scholars and students, along with officials and activists to shed light on the decades-long suffering of the Kurdish people and the systematic attempts to erase their identity through a series of genocidal campaigns.
The conference kicked off with a moment of silence in honor of the victims, followed by a video message from Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who underscored the critical role of the participants.
“Your work is important,” PM Barzani stated, adding, “You are not only studying and preserving history; you are also illuminating the identity and consciousness of future generations. We are not merely speaking; we are honoring the memory of the martyrs with dignity.”
Throughout the conference, emotional testimonies and powerful images documented the atrocities faced by the Kurds. Organizers emphasized that without documentation and preservation, the risk of repeating such atrocities grows significantly.
Among the attendees was Dr. Mohammed Ihsan, president of Erbil International University and expert on genocide studies.
Speaking to Rudaw, the leading scholar highlighted the significance of the archival effort stating, “This conference focuses on documenting the genocides against the Kurds, particularly from 1968 to 2003. We must understand how these crimes were committed, their impact, how they were recorded, and how we can now push forward toward international recognition.”
Between 1968 and 2003, Kurds faced systematic persecution and genocidal campaigns specifically under the Ba’ath regime led by ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
In the late 1980s, the toppled regime launched the infamous Anfal campaign. The brutal eight-phase military operation claimed the lives of more than 182,000 Kurds, with the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja alone killing over 5,000 of them - mostly women and children - and injuring thousands more.
In the 1960s, the Ba’ath regime began implementing Arabization policies, forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of Kurds to alter the demographic makeup of regions such as oil-rich Kirkuk. The toppled regime further persecuted Faili Kurds in the 1970s, stripping them of citizenship, deporting them en masse, subjecting them to disappearances, and executing at least 15,000 of them.
Adalat Omar, renowned author and scholar on genocide in Kurdistan and advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government, attended the conference.
She told Rudaw, “I have personally archived more than 30,000 documents, including 9,000 related to the Anfal genocide, 8,000 on the Faili Kurds, 4,000 concerning the Barzanis, and 3,500 from the Halabja chemical attack. This is a vast and vital effort.”
For his part, Dr. David Simon, Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale, told Rudaw that “there is a lot that remains” in terms of “the reckoning and the accountability” for the genocide against the Kurds and to prevent further genocide from unfolding in the future.
He noted that “one of the reasons that we’re having this event today [Wednesday] is to launch an archive to begin the process of having an international archive that would help scholars and investigators understand more about who is responsible for the crimes of the Kurdish genocide.”
Dr. Simon additionally expressed his gratitude to the Kurdistan Region’s PM Barzani for supporting the initiative, stating that “the conference results from the collaboration of Yale University, the MacMillan Center at Yale, and the office of his Excellency.”
“We are really grateful for the cooperation that enabled the conference to take place and even more so for the possibilities of more cooperation in the future,” he added.
Meanwhile, Prof. Stephan Rasche, an esteemed theologian and expert on international persecution, stressed to Rudaw that the importance of archiving such atrocities stems from the fact that “memory is perishable.”
“It is critical that there be a collective memory of what took place historically so that future generations can learn from it and have the opportunity to perhaps become better by learning from these awful histories,” he said.
On international recognition, Prof. Rasche regretted that the issue of “recognizing genocide is a problem not just for the Kurdish history, but also for many other peoples who have been subject to these types of atrocities and genocides as well.”
For many attendees, the “History and Legacy of the Kurdish Genocide” conference at Yale University was more personal than scholarly.
Badin Mikael, a participant at the conference, stated that “the Kurdish people have endured immense suffering, displacement, loss, and trauma. Many of us here saw it firsthand from childhood. People around the world still don’t know who the Kurds are. We are a nation of more than 40 million without a state.”
The conference addressed the full extent of Kurdish suffering—from mass killings and village burnings to land seizures and the erasure of cultural identity. Most importantly, Yale University’s commitment to becoming the permanent custodian of these records marks a major step in preserving Kurdish history. This initiative not only safeguards memory but also strengthens the global call for acknowledgment, justice, and prevention of future genocides.
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