Iraq, trying to force assimilation, has leveled more than 3,000 Kurdish villages, according to the institute.

The majority of Kurdish villages, however, remained intact in early 1988.

Thousands of Kurdish villages were destroyed, and at least 180,000 civilians perished.

Other estimates have put the number of destroyed Kurdish villages at over 4,000.

"I went into Kurdish villages that were gassed," he said last year.

I saw a military helicopter land in a Kurdish village.

Sumail in the early 20th century was a very small Kurdish village.

His father had been a traveling dentist who serviced many Kurdish villages.

The name came from a kurdish village which Ottomans tried to destroy three times.

Wiped out around 90% of Kurdish villages in targeted areas.