KURDISH-born British Nationals living in the region have travelled to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State, ignoring pleas to stay at home, The Northern Echo has learned.

Kurdish community leaders say small numbers of Kurds living in the Tees Valley have travelled to Syria and Iraq to defend their homeland against insurgents.

However, the majority of the 1,000-strong Kurdish population in the are are complying with Government advice not to travel to the conflict zone. Hazhar Othman, a Kurdish community leader from Middlesbrough, said all Kurds living in the region were angry at the genocide being committed against their people by insurgents.

But he added that young Kurds wanting to take up arms against the terrorists were being urged by leaders to stay at home, amid fears their inexperience could quickly cost them their lives. He added that the Kurds had enough experienced fighters already in the Middle East to defeat Isil and just needed more support from Western governments.

 

THE Kurdish people are sometimes called the world's biggest ethnic group without a nation state.

There are about 30 million living in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, many in an area known as Kurdistan. In recent history they have suffered persecution, including mass genocide by Saddam Hussein's regime and they have often fought with each other, as well as the nation states they live in.

However, the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in the Middle East and the reluctance of Western governments to send in their own troops has meant the Kurds have become firm allies of the UK, US and other countries concerned at the murderous threat that the insurgents pose.

Back in the North-East, Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough is probably as multi-cultural as anywhere in the region.

As well as Turkish kebab shops, Italian and Indian restaurants and Asian supermarkets, there are several shops and cafes owned and run by some of the 1,000-plus Kurds estimated to now live in the Tees Valley.

Hazhar Othman is originally from Sulaymaniyah in Iraq but moved to the region about ten years ago.

Like all Kurds, he is deeply concerned at the conflict in Iraq and Syria and the murder and mayhem orchestrated by Isil fighters.

However, he believes the Kurdish people will eventually defeat the insurgents - if they are given the right help from their new friends.

Central to the fight against Isil are the peshmerga - the Kurdish military - who this week were allowed into the Syrian border town of Kobani to support Syrian and Kurdish fighters desperately resisting the IS advance.

"The peshmerga are making us proud. They are not just fighting for Kurds, they are fighting for the world," says Mr Othman, who stresses that the Kurds are peaceful and civilised people.

"We are just defending ourselves. And we are fighting for democratic nations around the world. We are doing the same as European countries do as we like to hep humanity. After all you take away the politics and the religion and we are all the same."

Asked if any Kurds from the region have left to fight the insurgents, he says that a small number have gone, but he adds that he and others are urging Kurds to remain in the UK.

He says there are more than enough experienced peshmerga fighters to defeat Isil, if they are given the right support including heavy weapons.

"The peshmerga are fighting off Isil but how can they fight with 25-year-old Kalashnikovs when Isil have modern weapons taken from the Iraqi Army?"

Mr Othman adds that there is currently a waiting list for Kurd fighters wanting a gun to fight Isil.

"If people go from the UK they are going to make the situation worse as they are going to want a weapon, food and supplies."

Mr Othman adds that unlike battle-hardened peshmerga fighters, they will not have the experience and could quickly become a casualty.

Adnan Mohammed is originally from Kirkuk in Iraq, but is now a British citizen.

In Middlesbrough he works in a pizza shop, although in Iraq he was a commando in the Iraqi Army.

He says he wanted to use his military experience to help fight the insurgents, but friends and family living in Iraq told him to stay away.

"We have 500,000 soldiers - just let us do it," he says.

"Our old soldiers are very experienced - they have been fighting for decades."

Ahmed Jaff, 30, is also a Kurdish community leader who has lived in Middlesbrough for around ten years.

He says that he is a Muslim and Isil's claims that they too are Muslims are wrong.

"Isis is not a Muslim organisation, Muslims are not terrorists," he says.

Although he is a member of a Kurdish political party, Mr Jaff says now is not the time for politics.

"It's time for the Kurdish people to come together and defend our land and our people.

"Isil have no respect for anything, for women, for children or for old people.

"We don't want to fight with anybody but we are ready to defend our land - we wont let Isil take our land."

Mr Jaff says that if the Kurds do no defeat Isil, the terrorism will spread even further into Europe.

While others are urging UK Kurds not to travel to the Middle East, Mr Jaff says he would have no hesitation in joining the peshmerga.

"If the president of Kurdistan called for the Kurdish people around the world to go back then I am ready - all Kurds will be ready.

"I am very proud to be Kurdish and we have lost too many people already. Only the peshmerga and guerilla forces can stop Isil."

A Home Office spokesman said the UK was advising against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq.

He added: "Even people travelling for well-intentioned humanitarian reasons are exposing themselves to serious risk.

"The best way to help the people of these countries is to donate to registered charities that have ongoing relief operations.”