Peregraf- Masoud Hadi
Only an adolescent by age, but a mature man for his family. For some years he has been undertaking a difficult task: that of filling the vacuum left after his father’s death.
Hussein Rekani’s mother was hoping more for his son. She wished to see his son grow into adulthood, complete his studies and make a bright future for himself. However, two bullets from a foreign troop’s rifle in his homeland, took away the mother’s dream.
Hussein Rekani, 17 years, on Saturday 26th of January 2019, participated in a protest march condemning Turkey’s airstrikes in Shiladze town, Southeast of Duhok province in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. He was killed by a direct bullet from Turkish troops.
“Unfortunately, the Turkish troops shot two bullets into Hussein’s chest. This ended the great expectations of his mother, brother and sisters,” a close relative of Hussein told Peregraf.
The day Hussein was killed, the people of Shiladze descended en masse on to the streets, showing their frustration towards the unstable situation of that region which usually ends with the death of civilians.
Ahmad Shamki, civil activist in Shiladze, told Peregraf when protesters stormed Turkish military base, “some of the Turkish troops opened fire, nevertheless civilians continued their protest without any fear, thus Rekani was martyred.” He added “that killing did not calm down people’s anger but they persisted. Protesters set the base on fire and took several troops into custody, who were then handed over to KRG local forces.”
Hussein Rekani
Turkey has many military bases inside the Kurdistan Region of Iraq territory, including the one in Shiladze. Turkish presence in Kurdistan Region has a long history and it goes back to the Kurdistan’s civil war era. In 1997, they set up some military bases according to an agreement with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and have not withdrawn since then.
In the last Saturday’s demonstration in front of the Turkish military base, in addition to the killing of Hussein Rekani, many other supporters have been injured.
Sigvan Rekani, a close friend of Hussein Rekani for a long time, says that Hussein was a seventh grade student; after his father lost his life in 2009, he had to work to provide for his family as he was the eldest son.
“The reason people stormed the Turkish military base was due to the killing of civilians and the ongoing conflict between the Kurdistan’s Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish army,” said Sigvan.
Hussein Rekani
Turkey frequently launches airstrikes on positions in the Kurdistan Region. They have killed dozens of civilians in their bombings. Four civilians were killed in the past week and two others are still missing.
Najib Najib, the director of Amedi Hospital told Peregraf that Hussein Rekani has lost his life immediately after he was shot. He added that another 11 protesters have been injured, four of them have been sent to Duhok main hospital and are in critical condition, “two of them got injured by direct bullets.”
The KRG issued a 46-word statement expressing “concerns and sadness for human losses and injuries in today's incidents in Shiladze.” The statement goes further: “There is a disruptive hand behind these events. The relevant authorities are conducting a thorough investigation and the perpetrators will face justice.”
Shamki also says that the demonstration was permitted by the town’s officials, however when they started “the anger of people quickly turned violent, some of them were against the PKK without blaming Turkey, and it was one of the reason which made protesters attack the Turkish base.”
He also states that the residents of the border region are equally frustrated with Turkey, KRG, Iraq and every party involved with the chaos in these areas, “there is no stability in the region, and many villagers have left their home and the area has become lifeless.”
Warshin Salman, top official of Shiladze town was not ready to talk to Peregraf saying he cannot talk to the media.
In Shiladze demonstrators set a Turkish military base on fire 26th January 2019
Iraq said on Sunday it would summon Turkey’s ambassador to protest over the death of a Kurdish demonstrator shot by Turkish troops.
“The Foreign Ministry will summon the Turkish ambassador to hand a protest note about the incident and demand that it will not be repeated," the ministry said in a statement.
“Iraq firmly condemns any transgression of the security and sovereignty of Iraq or the use of its territory to attack the security and safety of any neighboring country,” it said.
Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said on Sunday that KRG’s policy is that Kurdistan Region territories must not be used for attacks against any neighboring countries and that the PKK “must keep its conflict out of the KRG so that innocent civilians do not pay the price of a war that the KRG is neither involved in nor wants.”
“We do understand these people’s right to protest and protesting has been regulated by the law and it is all clear how it should be carried out. But when efforts are made to derail peaceful protests and turn them into violent acts, is in no way acceptable by the KRG,” PM said in his press conference in Erbil.
Barzani indirectly accused the PKK saying “It happened in areas where the PKK is present. It is because of the presence of the PKK that those airstrikes occur. There is a cause and that cause is the PKK.”
He also stated that he had a telephone conversation with the Turkish foreign minister, “We stressed that the Kurdistan Regional Government will take all legal measures against anyone who has tried to change the course of the protests which was peaceful in the beginning and it was their right.”
In Shiladze demonstrators controlled a Turkish military base
The KCK Executive Council co-presidency issued a written statement about the issue of Shiladze and named the events “uprising of the people of Southern Kurdistan,” also stated that uprisings and democratic demonstrations should spread all over Kurdistan “to guarantee the status and security of the Kurds”.
“In that uprising, the people set fire to the Turkish military base and all its equipment. This was how they expressed their view against the genocidal and occupant policies of the fascist Turkish state.”
KCK, which is an umbrella group for all PKK organizations, also responded to the PDK and PM Barzani saying “KDP and Barzani's statements only encourage the oppressing Turkish state and give legitimacy to its attacks.”
Turkish bombardments have always made people angry. Despite the demands of political parties and the Kurdistan Regional Parliament, the bombardments are ongoing and the military bases are still present in the Kurdistan Region territory.
Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said on Saturday, the PKK “provokes local people in northern Iraq and it becomes difficult with the steps that would be taken against it after the formation of the new government in Iraq,” according to Anadolu Agency.
Besides the civilian deaths, Turkish airstrikes on Kurdistan border region also caused a great deal of economical loss along with damage to infrastructure in the region.
Lieutenant General Jabar Yawar, the Secretary General of the Peshmerga Ministry of KRG, told Voice of America on Saturday, that Turkish bombardments are ongoing since 2007, according to their statistics “from the beginning of 2015 until the end of 2018, Turkey has carried out 823 strikes on the Kurdistan Region, including both airstrike and shelling, which have damaged parts of the Kurdistan Region and caused the death of a minimum of 20 civilians.”
Hussein Rekani, the victim of the Turkish aggression at the heart of Kurdistan territory, is not the first person in his family to be victimized in the ongoing conflict in that region.
The deceased teenager’s grandfather was named Hussein as well. He was killed during the conflict between PKK and KDP, since then, the family has not returned to their home village.
As Sigvan Rekani says, after the death of Hussein’s father in 2009, the situation of the family became difficult and the son had been the only hope for them, however his death brings even more sorrow and distress to the family.