Today I attended the Memorial Service for the victims of Halabja which I have done every year for the last 5 years since getting to know the Kurdish community in Portsmouth. This year was the 25th anniversary of the massacre at Halabja on 16th March 1988. It was not the only atrocity heaped on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein but has come to symbolise much of their suffering.
Recently, there was a petition to ask the British government to recognise the atrocities by Saddam Hussein on the Kurdish people as genocide which was sponsored by Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi, whose own Kurdish family had to leave Iraq after being persecuted. The petition raised 27,794 signatures which triggered the motion which needs over 10,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament. You can find the wording of the petition and response at:
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31014
It was debated in Parliament on February 28th 2013 and the motion was unopposed so it has been officially recognised as genocide by the British parliament. This means that three countries now recognise the constant atrocities by Saddam Hussein on the Kurds as genocide, Sweden, Norway and Britain and more countries will follow soon.
It is important to recognise these acts of genocide to enable the world to understand the suffering of people who have been through these types of atrocities and allow them to move on and rebuild their lives and countries. Kurdistan has become the most successful outcome of the Iraqi war and is now beginning to grow fast economically, many Kurdish migrants are now returning to contribute to this success. For others, the attacks on their families with many killed has meant that it is too painful to return and their children and families have settled happily in their new countries. Through these yearly memorials during which we hear from victims who had been through the attack, the Portsmouth community can reflect and recognise the suffering that our Kurdish neighbours have been through and help them settle in their new country.