Tara Jaff

The Planned Halabja Memorial was a great success. Before the start of the Memorial Service, a procession took place from the main gates of Greenhead Park to the Grace Centre. The Kurdish Forum was very pleased to see that so many people had come to the event. There were many new faces, that left more knowledgeable about the tragedy that took place on the 16^th of March 1988. The event was initiated by words from the Chairman of the Kurdish Forum, Mr Khalil Khalaf, which were translated to Sorani by Mr. Sarwat.

Afterwards at 11:15 there were 3 minutes of silence to remember the victims of Halabja. Councillor Mehboob Khan from Kirklees Council then expressed his and the council’s support to the Kurdish community.

Councillor Mehboob Khan

People paid their respects and dropped a black pebble into a vase as a symbol of remembrance. The artist Tara Jaff played beautiful music on stage with her magical harp, her mystical music left people deeply moved. We the Kurdish Forum thank her very much for coming all the way from London to take part in the Memorial Service.

Poets from all over the UK had come to share their beautiful and deeply moving poems about Halabja. Then finally a young, newly founded group of Kurds from Huddersfield performed an amazing and deeply moving re-enactment of Halabja on stage. People were so moved that some could not hold their tears. The Kurdish Forum wishes to thank this young group, who clearly have the potential to be big in the field.

We also wish to thank the Grace Centre for providing us with a venue. We very much appreciate their help and support to the Kurdish Forum and the Kurdish Community as a whole.