People of Kurdistan celebrate national flag day

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – On Saturday, people of the Kurdistan Region and other Kurdish areas across Syria, Iran, and Turkey celebrated the Kurdistan Flag Day.

Peshmerga forces organized a special ceremony in the frontlines in Makhmour, south of Erbil, to celebrate the occasion. 

Among the attendees were the US-led coalition commanders and former US army generals.

Kurdistan Flag Day has been celebrated annually on December 17 since 2009 when the Parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq designated the day.

The occasion is to commemorate the rise of the Kurdistan flag in the first-ever Republic of Kurdistan in Mahabad, Iranian Kurdistan (Rojhelat) in 1945.

On this occasion, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Deputy PM Qubad Talabani congratulated people of Kurdistan and called for unity among the political parties in the Kurdistan Region to fulfill the rights and needs of the people.

At the Kurdistan Region Parliament, the Parliament Deputy Speaker and MPs commemorated the day.

Students at every levels and age celebrated the day with their teachers and professors, as did others in towns and cities across Kirkuk, Suleimani, Halabja, Erbil, and Duhok Provinces.

In Kurdistan of Turkey, known as north Kurdistan or Bakur among Kurds, Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) celebrated the day with seminars, gatherings, and events in several Kurdish cities.

In Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), Kurdish National Council (ENKS) organized the Kurdistan Flag Day with various performances and gatherings in some Kurdish cities and called for the release of its members imprisoned by the Democratic Union Party (PYD)-led administration in Rojava.

The flag was first designed by the exiled leaders of the nationalist Xoybun (being oneself) movement in early 1920s.

[Video-Kurdish: Peshmerga forces celebrate Kurdistan Flag Day at the frontlines in Makhmour, south of Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region]

[Video-Kurdish: Syrian Kurds in Domiz refugee camp celebrate Kurdistan Flag Day]

Editing by Ava Homa