ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The body of a prominent Kurdish Peshmerga who died of injuries sustained in an ISIS landmine earlier this month near Mosul was returned to the Kurdistan Region on Sunday. From there his body will be repatriated to his hometown in the Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey.
The body of Saeed Churukaya known as Dr. Sleman was returned to the Kurdistan Region through Erbil International Airport where a military ceremony was held with many Peshmerga and government officials in attendance to pay their respects, Rudaw’s Hevidar Ahmed reported from the scene.
“Martyred Sleman is not the first and will not be the last martyr of Kurdistan. We are proud of Dr. Sleman as he played a crucial role in saving the lives of hundreds of Peshmerga soldiers by defusing bombs in the fight against ISIS,” said Abdulhaymen Barzani, who was present at the ceremony on behalf of the president of the Kurdistan Region, Masoud Barzani.
Nawzad Hadi, Erbil governor, said a statue would be made in Erbil in tribute to Dr. Sleman who sacrificed his life for the safety of the Peshmerga and Kurdistan.
Dr. Sleman is from the Kurdish region of Turkey. Although he carried German citizenship, he decided to leave his life in Germany and join the Peshmerga forces to defuse bombs and booby traps, as he was an expert in this field.
On October 26, he was critically injured by a landmine and later died in hospital in Germany on October 30.
His body will be repatriated for burial in Bingol city in Turkey.
