The Peshmarga (those who face death) is a large group of Kurdish guerrillas who live in the mountains of Kurdistan, fighting the occupiers. Kurds, the largest ethnic group in the world without a homeland, are mainly divided between four countries of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria and have faced genocide. In an ethnic cleansing attempt, Halabja was gassed in 1988 when 5,000 Kurds were killed and 2,000 more a few days later. Kurds in Turkey are denied their very identity, including the right to speak their mother tongue in their own homes. In Iran, thousands of Kurds have been assassinated and executed for their beliefs.

Canadians Allan Slater and Michele Naar-Obed of Christian Peacemakers sent this letter in Sulaymaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan following pro-democracy and independence demonstrations.

Wednesday was the 23rd anniversary of the poison gas attack by Saddam Hussein's forces on the people of Halabja, killing 5,000. Citizens of the region are taking to the streets.

March 12, 2011

The protest movement here in the Kurdish region of Iraq has never really taken off in the capital city of Erbil. The Peshmerga loyal to Barzani's KDP party have clamped down hard by breaking up meetings of even three or four people on the streets.