MESOP CAMPAIGN : ARE WE ALL PESHERMAG NOW ? UPCOMING KURDISH NATIONALISM ?

4000 volunteers to join Kurdistan’s Peshmerga in anti-ISIL campaign

ARA News – 23.6.2014 – Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan – Due to the current situations in Nineveh province and other Iraqi regions, and following the Kurdish Peshmerga forces’ control on Kerkuk and the contested areas, a group of Kurdish graduates from the American and Cihan Universities in Iraqi Kurdistan campaigned under “We are all Peshmerga” slogan in Hewler (Erbil), the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Merd Ali Rasol, the campaign leader, told ARA News: “We launched this campaign to support the Peshmerga forces. We register the names of the volunteers who want to fight with these forces in the future. We have official lists of names.”

“The volunteers are not affiliated with any party or organization. Those are residents of Erbil who want to join the ranks of the Peshmerga military forces to face te growing danger of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq, and prevent ISIL militants from threatening the security of the Kurdistan Region,” Merd said.

According to Merd, “even ordinary people from the four parts of Iraqi Kurdistan participated in this campaign. Some of Arabs and Turks expressed their support to the Peshmerga in fighting ISIL”.

Speaking to ARA News, Ranj Ali, one of the campaign members and the names’ registrar, said: “We are the students of the department of diplomatic and international relations. We launched this campaign three days ago and it will last for a week. We have registered 4000 names of volunteers who are willing to join the ranks of the Peshmerga.”

“Peshmerga forces are defending the territories of Kurdistan today by all means to maintain the security of people’s lives, so it is normal to see this turnout,” Ali said.Recently, clashes took place between the Kurdish military forces of Peshmerga and ISIL militants in several areas at the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan.