“My daughter would be alive if the KDP had not confiscated gas masks”

If the KDP had not confiscated the gas masks for the guerrillas, Peyam Abdullah and the other guerrillas killed by Turkish poison gas might still be alive. This is what Peyam's mother Emine said in Sulaymaniyah.

The People's Defence Forces (HPG) on Tuesday published the names of 17 guerrilla fighters who have died in recent weeks as a result of the use of chemical weapons in Turkey's invasion of southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq). The guerrillas were from all four parts of Kurdistan in the states of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. One of those killed is Delal Şoreş (Peyam Abdullah) from Sulaymaniyah. She joined the guerrillas in 2017 and last fought in the Zap region. She was killed in a chemical weapons attack in the Zap in October 2022.


Peyam's mother Emine spoke to journalists in Sulaymaniyah about her daughter's death. "She chose her own path and did nothing bad. I am proud of her struggle," Emine said and criticised the government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) for cooperating with Turkey: "Erdogan is bad, but the government of the Kurdistan Region is no different. It says nothing when Kurds are murdered. It is Erdogan's partner. They are no different from each other."

Emine pointed out that gas masks intended for the guerrillas were confiscated by the KDP, which is dominated by the Barzani clan, and said: "If the gas masks stolen by the KDP had reached the guerrillas, Peyam and the others would not have died. They fell due to poison gas. As I have said before, the KDP is no different from Erdogan. I wish from Allah that no mother has to experience such pain and that they are our last martyrs. I hope that we can finally live as one people. Allah created us as Kurds. Why can't we just live in our country? We are just demanding our rights."

Hundreds of masks and protective filters were brought to the Kurdish mountains through the international "Gas Masks for the Guerrillas" campaign. However, a large shipment was confiscated by the KDP in Southern Kurdistan.