Religious leaders reiterate support for Peshmerga

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Representatives from all religious communities in the Kurdistan Region expressed their continuous support for Kurdish Peshmerga forces. The many leaders called on the international community to increase aid for Peshmerga and stated that Kurdistan is the only region where they feel safe and secure in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, leaders from the different communities, including Muslims, Christians, Jews, Yezidis, Zoroastrians, Kakai (Yarsan), Baha’i, Sabaeans, and Mandaeans collectively visited the Peshmerga front in western Kirkuk Province.

“The representatives visited the Peshmerga front line in western Kirkuk to express their love and support to Peshmerga forces. Each of them prayed for Peshmerga in their [distinct] religious ways,” Mariwan Naqshbandi, Spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs told K24 on Wednesday.

Naqshbandi stated that all of the representatives presented a Kurdistan Region flag to Peshmerga fighters on the front line, as an expression of support and gratitude for protecting all religious and ethnic groups in the Kurdistan Region.

Naqshbandi noted that afterwards the representatives visited the Peshmerga Ministry in Erbil “Asking the ministry to deliver their message of love and support to Peshmerga throughout all of the Peshmerga fronts,” he said.

The minister also stated that the representatives asked the Peshmerga Ministry to deliver the message to the international community that all religions in the Kurdistan Region want to be protected by Peshmerga.

“The representatives mentioned that they don’t want to lose the stability and peaceful coexistence they have here,“ Naqshbandi continued. “They stated that Kurdistan is the only Region for them in the Middle East where they are able to live in peace, practice their religious beliefs freely, and feel completely protected by Peshmerga.”

Peshmerga fighters along the various fronts and officials in the Peshmerga Ministry welcomed the support, considering it "the biggest morale boost Peshmerga have received” since the beginning of the war with Islamic State (IS) in June 2014, Naqshbandi added.

Khalid Jamal Albert, General Director of Christian Affairs in the KRG's Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, told K24, “We as the representatives of all religions in the Kurdistan Region found it necessary to visit a Peshmerga front in order to express our gratitude and support to them.”

“The main aim of our visit was to thank Peshmerga for defending all people in the Kurdistan Region regardless of ethnic and religious background,” Albert continued, “This is the least we can do for Peshmerga.”

He also mentioned that the delegation plans on visiting wounded Peshmerga in the future, in both hospitals and their homes.

Kamal Kirkuki, a senior Peshmerga Commander on the western Kirkuk front who met the representatives, told K24 on Wednesday that “their support is due to Peshmerga efforts in sacrificing their lives to defend the Kurdistan Region.”

Kirkuki praised the visit adding, “Today, all religions' [representatives] expressed their unity and support for Peshmerga.”

Commenting on holding a referendum on independence, Kirkuki noted that according to  international law, all nations have the right to self-determination and “Kurds have this right too.”

“The [religious] representatives reiterated their support for Kurdish independence, and promised that they will work on gaining more support towards self-determination, as it is our natural right,” Kirkuki said.