Christians prepare food for Peshmerga as appreciation for liberating Bashiqa

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A group of Christians from Bashiqa on Sunday brought food to Peshmerga on the front lines as respect for their efforts in retaking the town from the Islamic State (IS).

On Nov. 8, the General Command of Peshmerga forces in the Kurdistan Region declared the full liberation of Bashiqa, a town home to Kurdish Yezidis (Ezidis) and Christians for decades.

Some Christian ladies from Bashiqa, who were displaced to Duhok two years ago, prepared traditional Kurdish food and served it to Peshmerga in the town as appreciation for their sacrifices in freeing the region.

“It is something very little for Peshmerga compared to their sacrifices in protecting us. They liberated Bashiqa by shedding blood,” Ayhan Adnan, one of the Christian ladies who participated in cooking, told Kurdistan24.

“We thank Peshmerga, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and anyone else who participated in liberating the town,” Adnan added.

Hannan Khidir, another lady who took part in the food campaign, stated she respected what Peshmerga forces had done by freeing Christian and Ezidi areas.

“We cooked food for the brave Peshmerga forces because they liberated our towns. We thank them; they did everything to liberate the area,” Khidir said.

IS occupied Mosul in June 2014. The group then expanded to different cities in northern Iraq, including Nineveh, Salahaddin, Diyala, and Anbar.

Since then, Peshmerga forces with the help of the US-led coalition warplanes liberated large swaths of territory from the extremist group in the north, east, and west of Mosul.  

“We thank our Christian sisters for voluntarily cooking food for us often and coming all the way from Duhok to our front lines,” a Peshmerga Commander from Bashiqa told Kurdistan24.

“Peshmerga will continue to defend all ethnic and religious groups in the Kurdistan Region regardless of their background,” he added.

Kurdistan is home to nearly 1.8 million refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who fled from Syria and different parts of Iraq due to the threat of IS.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany