Amna Suraka massacre

Amna Suraka massacre
Location	Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iraq
Date	March 7–8, 1991
Attack type	Uprising, summary executions, reprisal killings
Weapon(s)	Small arms, blunt objects (stones, axes)
Deaths	700–800

Aftermath

Following the fall of Amna Suraka during the 1991 Battle of Sulaymaniyah:

• Approximately **700–800** Baʿathist secret police agents and soldiers were killed—**300** executed by Peshmerga and others by enraged civilians.
• One group of grieving mothers reportedly stoned and axed **21 Iraqi personnel** to death.
• Conscripts—often young soldiers pressed into service—were generally **pardoned** and sent home by KDP leader **Massoud Barzani**.
• The event triggered the widespread **liberation of Sulaymaniyah** by March 8, establishing the city as a hub of Kurdish resistance.
• However, brutal reprisals elsewhere by loyalist forces led to thousands of civilian executions and a refugee crisis of over **1 million Kurds**, prompting international intervention and a subsequent no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

Legacy

• In **2003**, Amna Suraka was converted into a **museum** Exhibits include a reconstructed cell, mannequins depicting torture methods, and the now-iconic **Hall of Mirrors**—with **182,000 shards** representing Kurdish victims of the 1980s Anfal genocide, backed by **4,500 lights** symbolizing destroyed villages.
• The museum is **free and open six days a week**, funded by the PUK, the Talabani family, and Qaiwan Group.
• Over **59,000** visitors attended in 2023 alone, including students, foreign tourists, and diplomatic delegations, with plans to add a **carpet museum** and a **Genocide Museum** wing.
• It is regarded as a leading **dark tourism** site in Iraqi Kurdistan, considered vital for public education, collective memory, and Kurdish-Arab reconciliation efforts.
• Scholars note the museum plays a central role in forming **Kurdish national identity**, contextualizing historical trauma and the struggle for self-determination.
• International organizations, including the **International Coalition of Sites of Conscience**, praise it as a model for transforming sites of violence into places of **healing and civic reflection**.
• Vice described it as “**the world’s most depressing museum**,” and Rudaw highlighted its expanding exhibitions—such as sections on **ISIS poetry martyrs**.