Families of Fallen Peshmerga Mark Pirde Battle With Call for Unity

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Families of Peshmerga martyred in the 2017 Battle of Pirde are marking its ninth anniversary with a call for Kurdistan's political parties to stand together, saying the unity shown in defending the Kurdistan Region militarily should also guide efforts to protect its constitutional entity.

Seven Peshmerga were martyred in the fighting on Oct. 20, 2017, when Iraqi forces and armed groups advanced toward Pirde, four days after Iraqi forces took control of Kirkuk and Khurmatu.

For relatives of those martyred, the anniversary carries both personal grief and pride in what they regard as a decisive defense of the Kurdistan Region.

Shaida Hussein lost her husband, Soren, in the battle. Her family's losses extend further: Soren's father and one of his brothers were also martyred while defending the Kurdistan Region, as was Hussein's own father.

"We are proud that we chose this path," Hussein told Kurdistan24. "My husband, who was martyred on this path, chose it according to his own convictions. We have never regretted choosing this path. It is a great source of pride."

The families' memories are closely tied to the events that followed Oct. 16, 2017.

According to the accounts provided to Kurdistan24, Iraqi forces and militias continued northward after taking Kirkuk and Khurmatu, moving toward areas controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government.

On the morning of Oct. 20, fighting broke out around Pirde on the route toward Erbil.

The account says Iraqi forces began shelling Peshmerga positions and KRG-controlled areas at around 7 a.m. before attempting to advance. Peshmerga and security forces resisted the attack, preventing further movement toward Erbil.

The battle has since become known in the Kurdistan Region as the "Pirde Epic" and, in another widely used description, the "Abrams Breakers Epic."

That name refers to the destruction during the fighting of a U.S.-made Abrams tank used by Iraqi forces. The tank had originally been supplied to Iraq as part of its military capabilities in the campaign against ISIS.

For Kurdish families commemorating the battle, the episode has become a symbol of the imbalance in weaponry faced by Peshmerga forces and of their determination to hold the line.

Ghazi Dolamari was another of the seven Peshmerga martyred.

His son, Sherwan Ghazi, said the family remains proud of his father's sacrifice despite the pain of the events surrounding Kirkuk and Pirde.

"Unfortunately, it was a very painful day, but we hold our heads high because martyr Ghazi Dolamari sacrificed himself for Kurdistan," he told Kurdistan24.

Sherwan also spoke emotionally about Kirkuk, saying his family regarded the city and surrounding territory as having been defended at great human cost.

His remarks reflected the continuing sensitivity surrounding the events of October 2017 and the territorial and political disputes that accompanied them.

Another family remembering the battle is that of Azad Barakai, who was also martyred at Pirde.

His son, Bakhtiar Azad, said the family viewed his father's death as a sacrifice made in defense of the land and called on Kurdish political forces to show the same sense of common purpose.

"We are proud of that epic, in which our father was one of those martyrs who defended this land and homeland with his blood," he said.

"As families of martyrs, our demand is that all parties stand united and speak with one voice."

For Bakhtiar, unity among political parties is not simply a political preference but part of the lesson his family draws from the battle.

"Just as we defended the land and homeland with our blood, they should also be able to protect the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region through unity and harmony," he said.

That appeal was repeated across the families interviewed by Kurdistan24.

Their message comes nine years after a period that remains one of the most politically and emotionally charged chapters in the Kurdistan Region's recent history.

The supplied account describes Pirde as the point where the advance toward further KRG-controlled territory was stopped following the events of Oct. 16.

It does not include an Iraqi government account of the battle or a response to the families' characterization of the forces involved and their objectives.

For the relatives gathered around the memory of the seven fallen Peshmerga, however, the anniversary is less about military history alone than about what they believe should follow from it.

Their argument is that the defense of the Kurdistan Region should not be remembered only through the battlefield sacrifices of 2017.

Nine years later, they are asking political parties to translate that memory into a common position — one that, in their words, places the protection of the Kurdistan Region and its constitutional entity above internal divisions.