Sydney Kurds honor Australian killed fighting ISIS in Syria

LONDON – Hundreds from the Kurdish community in Sydney turned out Thursday to honor Australian Ashley Johnson, believed to be the first Westerner killed in fighting with the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.

The 28-year-old army reservist, who had joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in its fight with ISIS, was killed February 24 when the tank he was travelling in was ambushed near Tal Hamis in Hasakeh province.

Australian media reports said that more than 300 from the Kurdish community attended a public funeral ceremony held for Johnson at Macquarie Park in Sydney, hailing him as a martyr, hero and exceptional fighter.

His coffin was draped with the flags of Australia and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which has declared autonomy over Syria’s Kurdish regions, or Rojava.

Funeral attendees carried party flags; men and women dressed in khaki fatigues and scarves in PYD colors of red, yellow and green carried the coffin.

With arms raised and hands held in defiant peace symbols, the crowd of men, women and children cheered and shouted, the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported. "Shehid namaren" – martyrs never die – they chanted.

The former postman, barman and army reservist  -- called Heval Bagok Serhed and Comrade Ashley by the Kurds he fought alongside – was killed in a hail of ISIS bullets.

By going to fight with the YPG, Johnson was breaking Australian law, which bans citizens from going to fight abroad in this manner, an offence punishable by up to 20 years in jail. The Australian government has called on all citizens fighting ISIS in the Middle East to return.

Rosa Bali, from the Kurdish Association of Victoria, said that “Ashley is the symbol of why the Kurds love Australia and the Australians."  But she urged Australia to abolish a law that punishes those who “are morally justifiable but legally wrong,” SMH reported.

Several foreign fighters have traveled to Syria and neighboring Iraq to fight with Kurdish forces battling ISIS.

Last month, Ivana Hoffman, a native of South Africa with German citizenship, was killed fighting alongside Kurdish forces in Syria. Before that, a British man, Konstandinos Erik Scurfield, was reported killed while battling ISIS.