PESHMERGA

KURDISTAN, IRAQ

ABOUT

In october 2016 the kurdish border guard called Peshmerga, together with the Iraqi army and some international support started their operation to take back the city of Mossul wich was the last big stronghold of the Islamic State in Iraq and it’s second largest city by that time.

Besides all the complexity with the countless political groups being involved, who are those kurdish men and women fighting the Islamic State? What is their individual and very personal motivation that drives them into risking their lifes on the battleground? This question gets even more important when you consider that Kurdistan is striving to be an independent country in that region with their border close to Mossul for decades and in continuous battle with the Iraqi government for the past 90 years. With those same soldiers they are fighting now side by side, liberating a country they are not allowed to call independent.

This project is not about promoting any political positions, it is an attempt to give the soldiers an opportunity to share their point of views. I arrived in Erbil early dezember and stayed with the Peshmerga in the liberated villages near Mossul for a couple of weeks. The kurdish operations in those towns had just ended hours before I arrived.

Peshmerga soldier walking in Kurdistan, Iraq.Portrait and interview of a kurdish Peshmerga SoldierA kurdish Peshmerga Soldier on his bedPortraits of two kurdish Peshmerga SoldiersTwo Peshmerga soldiers on a hill facing the border to Iraq towards MosulA Peshmerga Soldier with his weaponPortrait and interview of a kurdish Peshmerga SoldierSmoke in the air after an explosion in a kurdish town.Portrait of a Peshmerga soldierA Peshmerga fighter with his weaponA Peshmerga fighter with his weapon in the ruins of a kurdish townPortraits and interview of a kurdish Peshmerga SoldierPortrait and Interview of a kurdish Peshmerga SoldierA kurdish Peshmerga fighter with his weapon in front of the Iraqi borderPortraits of two kurdish Peshmerga SoldiersPortraits of two kurdish Peshmerga SoldiersA Peshmerga soldiers bedroom with weapons next to it on the frontlinePortrait and Interview of a kurdish Peshmerga soldierA weapon on a chairPortraits of two Peshmerga soldiersTwo Peshmerga soldiers in front of a destroyed town in KurdistanPortraits of two Peshmerga soldiersLandscape of kurdish land freed by the Peshmerga soldiers