MESOP : YOUNG KURDS JOIN ISIS – 18 Halabja Youths Have Joined ISIS

09.08.2014 –  Omar Aziz – BasNews, Halabja – The Mayor of Halabja, Arkan Hassan Ghafour, has revealed that 18 youths from Halabja have joined the Islamic State (IS) militants.

“According to the information that we have, so far 18 youths from the Halabja area have joined IS. Some of them have been killed, others have returned to their family and some others have disappeared without trace,” said Ghafour.

“Unfortunately, some of the media paint a negative image of Halabja without having any information,” added Ghafour.

According to Ghafour’s, they have a plan to gather all Halabja lawyers voluntarily and carefully observe the media  with a view to taking legal action against those who publish incorrect information about Halabja. He stated that: “The number of youths from Halabja who have joined IS is similar to all other places in the Kurdistan Region and they don’t represent the people of Halabja.”  “Now, thousands of youths and Peshmerga from Halabja are on the front line protecting the Kurdistan Region and hundreds of youths visit us daily to voluntarily register their names to fight against the IS insurgents. Many of them have been killed during the fighting,” added Ghafour. He also mentioned that “according to our information many Halabja youths have entered other Kurdish political parties in other parts of Kurdistan Region and now they fight against the IS insurgents in many Kurdistan Region areas.”