From Genocide into Peace conference in Sulymanyah, Iraq marks Halabja gas attack

March 18, 2008

Picture report: click on link above

Mayors for Peace participated in a 3-day event "From Genocide into Peace" at the invitation of the Governerate of Sulymanyah, the Mayor of Halabja and the Regional Government of Kurdistan, Iraq. All events took place in the Region of Kurdistan, Iraq and marked the 20th anniversary of the gas attacks on the city of Halabja. The gas attack on the City of Halabja in March 1988 killed around 5,000 civilians.

The key organizers of the events were, Mr. Khder Khareem, the Mayor of Halabja, and Mr. Othman Rashid Aziz, the General Director of the Governorate of Sulymanyah region. Mr. Othman supervises 75 municipalities in this region.

The persecution of the Kurdish people under the Saddam regime had been very cruel with the 'Anfal' which killed approximately 180,000 people. The brutal repression of the Kurdish people has left a bitter aftertaste.

During the conference which attracted between 2 up to 300 participants we gathered 29 registration forms from Kurdish Mayors. Mayors who participated to the conference all had a Kurdish back-ground even if they travelled from outside the official Kurdish region of Iraq, such as the Mayor of Kirkuk or the Mayor of Diyarbakir (Kurdish region in Turkey). The Mayor of Halabja stated that he wants to reach out to the other parts of Iraq.

Interestingly during the press conference and many interviews we realized that most local people are interested to receive help from abroad. They wanted to know which projects Mayors for Peace would organize in Kurdistan to help the victims in Halabja. Or they wondered about the accountability of the companies involved in selling the weapons or chemical components to the Saddam regime.

There seemed to be little political awareness of global politics concerning WMD and genocide. It was clear that the healing process only just started. A Swedish psychologist pointed out through her research that 20 years onwards the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is still keeping the Halabja survivors in its grip.

After the 2 day conference and the Halabja commemoration ceremony we travelled to the city of Chimchiamal where a sister-city relationship was formalised between the Iraqui city of Chamchamal and the Italian city of Campi Bisenzio. Here the Italian city commits itself to a partnership concerning cultural exchange, health and education, democracy, women rights and development.