Iraqi Kurdistan to Seek Compensation From Baghdad for 'Unfair' Attitude to Kurds

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the regional government, 182,000 Kurds were killed during a military operation known as "Anfal" in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. Anfal destroyed thousands of Kurdish villages, expelling their residents. Moreover, the dossier should estimate Erbil's share in international loans provided to Iraq.

"[The dossier] must explain how the Iraqi government has been dealing with the Kurdistan Region in an unfair and illegal manner, particularly related to the Peshmerga, the budget, and compensating for all the damages conflicted on the Kurdistan Region at the hands of the successive Iraqi regimes, especially compensating the Anfal victims and destruction of the infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region," the KRG statement published on Wednesday by Rudaw agency said.

The Kurds, making up about 20 percent of the Iraqi population, have been seeking self-governance for decades. In 2005, Iraq’s Constitution recognized Kurdistan as an autonomous region that was run by the KRG.

Since then, Kurdistan’s authorities have repeatedly raised the issue of the region’s independence and on June 7, they announced that a referendum on the issue would be held on September 25.

Responding to the move, Iraqi government spokesman Saad Hadithi said that Baghdad would not back any unilateral steps taken by Iraqi Kurdistan aimed at gaining independence, as such moves would violate the country's constitution.