SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ): Kurdish government to investigate Kurdish youths going to Syria for Jihad
Hawar Abdulrazaq – BasNews (Erbil): 25-11-2013 – According to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Kurdish prime minister Nechirvan Barzani has requested that his government form a committee to investigate the recent wave of young Kurds that have gone to Syria for jihad.
The committee aims to prevent other young men from going into the neighboring conflict zone to fight with groups like Jabhat Al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS).Barzani has requested that the committee look at the cases of young men who recently fought and died in Syria in order to explore ways of preventing this from happening in the future.
KRG Ministry for Endowment & Religious Affairs said that they have advised religious clerics in the Kurdish region to talk about this issue during talks following Friday prayers, in order to inform and educate people about this problem. The new phenomenon of young Kurds fighting jihad in Syria has been particularly prevalent in the regions of Halabja, Hawraman, Garmian and Balakayati; all close to the Iranian border. According to local media, nine Iraqi Kurds have been killed in Syria, while a number of others have been arrested as they attempted to cross into Syria. The KRG has instructed that no funeral processions be held for Iraqi Kurds who die as jihadists. The committee, headed by the KRG interior minister Karim Shingari, is set to start work soon.