Hundreds of European Kurds join Peshmerga and YPG
COPENHAGEN, Denmark –Hundreds of Kurds from the West are reported to have gone to fight alongside the Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga and the Syrian-Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces in their battles against the Islamic State.
Hussein Mohammad gave up his job as a musician in Germany and left his family there to become a Peshmerga in northern Iraq. Lukman Hassan also decided to return to Kurdish Regional Government territory from Germany.
“The Islamic State was attacking our brothers and sisters, and was trying to take over our land,” Hassan told France24. “So we had to return and defend it, even if it costs us our lives.”
Both Mohammad and Hassan fought in the Peshmerga ranks against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1990s.
Susanne Guven, president of the Kurdish National Association, estimates that around 200 Swedish-Kurds left Sweden last month to participate in various ways in the fight against ISIS in the KRG, including some as Peshmerga. In August, Norwegian newspaper VG wrote that young Norwegian-Kurdish men were at the front. About 10 Danish Kurds are also there, according to Denmark’s Politiken.
Among them is 27-year-old Azad Mahmood Hamid.
"My ancestors have given their blood for us, so we could have Kurdish autonomy. I will not just watch ISIS come and take it all,” Hamid, who is currently in the frontlines against the fundamentalist group in Jalawla, told Rudaw. Officially he is still resident in Denmark, where he has worked as a mechanic and pizza maker.
For 30-year old Shaho Pirani, who has a MA in anthropology and political science, the last straw was when ISIS enteredIraq and then Seized Mosul in June. He decided to leave Denmark and receive weapons training at a training camp in the KRG and become a Peshmerga.
"If ISIS wins, we lose everything. As soon as the Kurds need my support, I'll be there for my people.” Now he plans to go to Kobane in Syria and defend the city.
"I am ready to go to Rojava [part of Syrian Kurdistan] and fight for the Kurds there. For me there is no difference in what part of Kurdistan I am struggling."
In addition, Rudaw talked to two Turkish Kurds from Denmark, Mihemede Lice and Sofi Cengi, who have gone to the KRG to join the Peshmerga. They were both Peshmerga in the 1980s for the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Bakur.
Ozlem Cekic, an ethnically Kurdish MP in Denmark, said that she has talked to a "handful" Danish Kurds who want to go down and fight in Kobane and the KRG.
Three Dutch men are believed to have joined Peshmerga in KRG, according to NOS, Dutch Broadcast Foundation. The three men are member of the motorcycle club “No Surrender” and the President of “No Surrender”, Klaas Otto, confirmed that they are fighting against ISIS. They have both been in Syria, and are now in the KRG.
Not everyone is happy about the volunteers.
MP Soren Espersen from the Danish People's Party is concerned about Danish Kurds in the YPG, because it is related to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designed as a terrorist organization by the EU and NATO.
"It is deeply problematic if young people in Denmark directly or indirectly fight for an organization that is on our own terror list. We must tell them to stay home," he told Rudaw.
"We know that people who go out and fight wars often get mental problems. If you want to fight, then you can do it in the Danish army," MP Tom Behnke from the Danish Conservative Peo
ple's Party, told Rudaw.
Frederik Harhoff, a lawyer and former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said that it is not punishable to fight in another country, “as long as you comply with the conventions and do not commit war crimes.” But since the PKK is on the terrorist list, there might be problems for returning Kurdish fighters.
"Regarding the PKK it is a little unclear. You have to determine in a particular case who has fought for whom," Harhoff told Rudaw.
Hussein Mohammad gave up his job as a musician in Germany and left his family there to become a Peshmerga in northern Iraq. Lukman Hassan also decided to return to Kurdish Regional Government territory from Germany.
“The Islamic State was attacking our brothers and sisters, and was trying to take over our land,” Hassan told France24. “So we had to return and defend it, even if it costs us our lives.”
Both Mohammad and Hassan fought in the Peshmerga ranks against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1990s.
Susanne Guven, president of the Kurdish National Association, estimates that around 200 Swedish-Kurds left Sweden last month to participate in various ways in the fight against ISIS in the KRG, including some as Peshmerga. In August, Norwegian newspaper VG wrote that young Norwegian-Kurdish men were at the front. About 10 Danish Kurds are also there, according to Denmark’s Politiken.
Among them is 27-year-old Azad Mahmood Hamid.
"My ancestors have given their blood for us, so we could have Kurdish autonomy. I will not just watch ISIS come and take it all,” Hamid, who is currently in the frontlines against the fundamentalist group in Jalawla, told Rudaw. Officially he is still resident in Denmark, where he has worked as a mechanic and pizza maker.
For 30-year old Shaho Pirani, who has a MA in anthropology and political science, the last straw was when ISIS enteredIraq and then Seized Mosul in June. He decided to leave Denmark and receive weapons training at a training camp in the KRG and become a Peshmerga.
"If ISIS wins, we lose everything. As soon as the Kurds need my support, I'll be there for my people.” Now he plans to go to Kobane in Syria and defend the city.
"I am ready to go to Rojava [part of Syrian Kurdistan] and fight for the Kurds there. For me there is no difference in what part of Kurdistan I am struggling."
In addition, Rudaw talked to two Turkish Kurds from Denmark, Mihemede Lice and Sofi Cengi, who have gone to the KRG to join the Peshmerga. They were both Peshmerga in the 1980s for the Kurdistan Democratic Party-Bakur.
Ozlem Cekic, an ethnically Kurdish MP in Denmark, said that she has talked to a "handful" Danish Kurds who want to go down and fight in Kobane and the KRG.
Three Dutch men are believed to have joined Peshmerga in KRG, according to NOS, Dutch Broadcast Foundation. The three men are member of the motorcycle club “No Surrender” and the President of “No Surrender”, Klaas Otto, confirmed that they are fighting against ISIS. They have both been in Syria, and are now in the KRG.
Not everyone is happy about the volunteers.
MP Soren Espersen from the Danish People's Party is concerned about Danish Kurds in the YPG, because it is related to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), designed as a terrorist organization by the EU and NATO.
"It is deeply problematic if young people in Denmark directly or indirectly fight for an organization that is on our own terror list. We must tell them to stay home," he told Rudaw.
"We know that people who go out and fight wars often get mental problems. If you want to fight, then you can do it in the Danish army," MP Tom Behnke from the Danish Conservative Peo
ple's Party, told Rudaw.
Frederik Harhoff, a lawyer and former judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said that it is not punishable to fight in another country, “as long as you comply with the conventions and do not commit war crimes.” But since the PKK is on the terrorist list, there might be problems for returning Kurdish fighters.
"Regarding the PKK it is a little unclear. You have to determine in a particular case who has fought for whom," Harhoff told Rudaw.