RONÎDA HACÎ

Hasakah- On March 16, 1988, the Halabja Massacre was carried out by the Iraqi Ba'athist government under Saddam Hussein. NuJINHA spoke to Fatma Elî, member of the Council of Martyrs’ Families in Hasakah, a city in Jazira Canton of North and East Syria, about that chemical attack that killed more than 5,500 Kurdish people, mostly women and children, in Halabja.

‘The Turkish state follows the same policy’

The Halabja massacre was a conspiracy carried out by hegemonic states, Fatma Elî said. “The capitalist system has left societies breathless for hundreds of years and the states use this system for their own interests. Dictator Saddam Hussein dropped chemical bombs on Halabja under various excuses. His aim was to kill Kurdish people. This policy exists today; the occupying Turkish state follows the same policy by using chemical weapons in Medya Defense Areas in Southern Kurdistan.”

‘It is a genocidal policy’

Pointing to the damage on the environment by chemical weapons, Fatma Elî said, “The history of hegemonic states is a dark history. The states claiming that they defend humanity revealed their true colors by remaining silent against the Halabja massacre. Using chemical weapons is a crime against humanity. It is a genocidal policy against humanity, nature and the earth. Chemical weapons harm all living creatures in the world.”

‘We face massacres every day’

Talking about the genocides and massacres throughout history, she said, “Many genocidal attacks and massacres have been committed against Syrian, Armenian and Kurdish people. The occupying Turkish state has carried out many massacres in North and East Syria. It used chemical weapons and killed civilians in Afrin, Serêkanîyê (Ras al-Ayn) and Girê Spî (Tell Abyad). In Serêkanîyê, a child named Mihmed was burned to death as a result of phosphorus bombs. In North and East Syria, we face massacres every day. Targeting pioneers of the revolution and the civilian population is a massacre.”

‘The massacres show the dimension of hate against the Kurdish people’

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) does its best to protect people while building its system, Fatma Elî emphasized and added, “The system of the AANES is a model for the whole world. Today, we have the right to protect ourselves and our values. The AANES aims to build a system based on freedom. Our children defend their people and lands and they protect humanity from terrorism while fighting ISIS. For this reason, there are attacks on this system. The massacres in Shengal (Sinjar), Afrin and Serêkanîyê show the dimension of hate against the Kurdish people. In addition, they fear the system being built by the AANES and the thoughts and philosophy of Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. I call on our people to resist the policies of genocide and massacre.”