Today is the Kurdish National Day of Mourning

On March 16 the Kurdish people remember one of the most tragic days in their history. In 1988, on this day as a result of the use of chemical weapon by the Iraqi army in the north of the country, 5000 people died in the bordering Halabja town, and more than 20000 people were injured, mostly women and children.

In 1985 the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan left the long-standing support of Baghdad and the units of Jalal Talaban sent their armament to the Iraqi regular army. In 1987 the chemical weapon was first used against Kurds. On March 16, 1988 the Iraqi air forces bombed the Halabja using different poisonous materials. Although in 1925, the League of Nations in Geneva approved by the Protocol prohibiting the use of toxic materials and asphyxiate gases, Halabja cases initially did not receive international response. The sympathy of many states and international organization was hidden in Iraq. But those actions of Iraq were justified by many humanitarian and human rights non-governmental organizations and many state parliaments.

On March 9 1988 the Security Council of UN adopted a decision about the ban of chemical weapons without mentioning Iraq. The Prime-Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher called on the international community to use economic sanctions against Iraq. “Human Rights Watch” and other organization, in 1990 started an independent investigation, as a result of which the hypothesis of the responsibility of the bombing was formed.