A photograph of Peshmerga won Istanbul Photo Awards

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A photo of the Peshmerga helping a displaced woman shelter in Kurdistan was selected as the Photo of the Year at the Istanbul photo award.

The winner of Istanbul Photo Awards was French photographer Frederic Lafarguetaken who photographed the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga forces guiding Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), fleeing the Islamic State (IS) brutalities, to pass through the Peshmerga frontline.  

Among nearly 25,000 photos, the international jury members, between 19 and 22 of March, selected Lafargue’s “Fleeing from Daesh,” the Arabic acronym for Islamic State (IS).

The photo competition has in eight categories of news single, news story, sports single and sports story; as well as nature and environment single, nature and environment story, portrait-single and portrait-story where photographers of 17 countries took part in this year’s contest.

Istanbul Photo Awards is an ‘international news photography’ competition organized by the Turkish government-owned Anadolu Agency.

“The contest aims to contribute to the sphere of news photography and offers a perspective shaped by the region’s unique position at the center of diverse cultures,” Anadolu Agency said about the Istanbul Photo Award.

Many world officials, including the former US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, have praised Peshmerga as one of the most capable ground forces fighting the extremist group.

Over 1,600 Peshmerga forces have fallen while fighting the IS and about 10,000 more have been wounded, according to Peshmerga Ministry.

Editing by Ava Homa