Iraqi Kurdistan MP demands compensation of thousands of Halabja chemical attack victims

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Legislature of north Iraq’s Kurdistan Coalition, Aala Talabany, has demanded the Federal Government of Iraq to compensate the victims of the Kurdish city of Halabja, on the 23rd anniversary of the chemical attack on the city by Iraq’s former Baath regime, that killed over 5,000 of its citizens and injured over 10,000 others.   “Halabja is the symbol of all Iraqis, as well as the symbol for their challenge to the dictatorship, thing that demands the Federal Government to compensate the victims of that crime,” Talabany told IraqiNews.com news agency, confirming that her Coalition had “commemorated today (Tuesday) the 23rd anniversary of Halabja’s dreadful catastrophe.”   She said that “23 years ago, there had been complete silence towards that crime, and on its anniversary today, all leaders of the Iraqi political blocs, the Parliament Speaker Usama al-Nujeify and his two Deputy Speakers, share us the commemoration of this anniversary.”   “Halabja had been a lesson for all politicians, from which we learn that the massacres against the people, would lead for nothing, but destruction and corruption,” she stressed.   Noteworthy is that Halabja city had been target for a chemical offensive by Iraq’s former Baath regime on March 16, 1988, that led to the killing of 5,000 civilians and wounding 10,000 others of the city’s inhabitants.   SKH(RT)/SR 786