Sangr Ali
The date 31 August remains a dark day in the history of Kurdistan — a wound carved into the memory of every Kurd. It is remembered as an act of betrayal so profound that its scars are still visible on the very body of Kurdistan, committed twenty-nine years ago by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
How did 31 August unfold?
On the night of 31 August 1996, the KDP invited the forces of Saddam Hussein’s Ba‘athist regime — the fiercest enemy of the Kurdish people — into Erbil and the territories under the administration of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). With Ba‘athist tanks and troops, they stormed the Kurdistan Parliament, shattering its prestige and legitimacy, and in the process caused the deaths of thousands.
What remains most tragic is that, nearly three decades later, the leaders of that party have never sought forgiveness. On the contrary, they deny that it was treachery, instead boasting of it as if it were a source of pride, commemorating it as a day of “glory.”
Why is 31 August still relevant today?
Because the same policy of betrayal continues.
If 29 years ago the KDP brought in the Ba‘athist army,
Today it is the Turkish gendarmerie that has been invited in — resulting in the occupation of Kurdish territory, the martyrdom of Kurdish civilians, and the confiscation of people’s land and livelihoods.
Thus, the betrayal of 31 August 1996 has not ended; it has only changed form.
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