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Remembering Halabja – scene of a massacre
34 years ago Saddam Hussein gassed thousands of Kurds as part of his blood-soaked Anfal campaign. Today STEVE SWEENEY sees parallels with the alleged use of chemical weapons by Turkish despot Recep Tayyip Erdogan
BRUTAL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left), the late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and (foreground) a memorial to the 5,000 Kurdish people who were killed in the Halabja massacre in 1988

“MUMMY, it smells of apples,” five-year-old Dayki said as she ran excitedly outside.

Just seconds later her tiny body lay crumpled on the ground, dead. She was one of the 5,000 Kurds gassed in the town of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan on March 16 1988.

Ali, who is the sole survivor, losing seven members of his family in the attack, described the horrors he witnessed as a 12-year-old boy.

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