Kurdistan Democratic Party President Masoud Barzani marked the 38th year since the Halabja chemical attack on Monday, describing the assault as one of the gravest crimes committed against the people of Kurdistan.

Barzani shared a message on the social media platform X on March 16, 2026, commemorating the victims of the 1988 attack, when chemical weapons were used against the city of Halabja by the regime of Saddam Hussein, killing thousands of civilians.

“The chemical bombardment of Halabja was an extremely brutal injustice and a heinous crime against the people of Kurdistan,” Barzani said.

He added that the attack represented a rare case in which a state used chemical weapons against its own citizens.

“There is no place in the world where a state has exterminated its own people with chemical weapons except in Iraq, where this major crime was committed against the people of Kurdistan,” he said.
Barzani also said that despite the tragedy, some individuals in Iraq still oppose the rights of the Kurdish people.

“The tragedy of Halabja and other crimes of the past are a historical and legal responsibility for Iraq, which requires the country to compensate the people of Kurdistan,” he said.

Barzani concluded his message by paying tribute to the victims of the attack.

“On this anniversary, we send our greetings and respect to the pure souls of the martyrs of Halabja and all the martyrs of Kurdistan,” he said.

The Halabja chemical attack on March 16, 1988, killed more than 5,000 civilians and injured thousands more, and remains one of the most widely documented chemical attacks against a civilian population in modern history.