On December 17, 1945, the military forces of PDKI overtook the last Iranian military barrack in Mahabad and raised the Kurdish flag. The Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan was established on the same day.<\/p>\n
The word \u201cPeshmerga\u201d, which in Kurdish means those who face death, has forced centuries been the preferred name for brave warriors in Kurdistan. When the Kurdish government in 1946 deliberated on what name to choose for the military forces of the Republic of Kurdistan, it was decided to use the word Peshmerga.<\/p>\n
Since then, on December 17, the people in eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan, as well as the growing Kurdish diaspora in Europe and America, honor the sacrifices of the Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan.<\/p>\n
Peshmerga a broader meaning and significance in Kurdish society.<\/p>\n
Peshmerga is a symbol of the resilience of a nation that has been deprived the right to statehood in its own homeland and forcefully incorporated into four states \u2013 Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.<\/p>\n
The Kurdish nation has been subject to forced assimilation, massacres and cultural and physical genocide by Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Syria. Still, the Kurdish people have managed to survive and protect its dignity. This would not have been possible without the existence of Peshmerga.<\/p>\n
Peshmerga is the protector of the human dignity of the Kurdish nation. Peshmerga is also a progressive military force fighting for liberty, gender equality and democracy in the Middle East. Peshmerga is the most important force fighting state terrorism and the terrorism of non-state actors \u2013 as evidenced in the war against the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic State (IS).<\/p>\n
PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces have been fighting dictatorship in Iran and have struggled for the national rights of the Kurdish people, liberty and democracy since the 1940s. PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces have been bravely fighting the dark forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979 .<\/p>\n
In 2015, PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces returned to eastern Kurdistan. Since then numerous clashes have taken place between the Peshmerga Forces and Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Unfortunately 23 Peshmergas have been martyred since 2015. Scores of Iranian soldiers have also become victims of the Iranian regime\u2019s policy of occupation and warmongering in Kurdistan.<\/p>\n
PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces also took part, alongside the Peshmerga Forces of southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan, in the war against IS in 2014 and were involved in the operation to repel the attack against Kurdistan and liberate Mosul.<\/p>\n
Since having returned to eastern Kurdistan in 2015, PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces have pledged to make the necessary sacrifices in pursuit of the liberation of the Kurdish nation and in fighting the Islamic Republic of Iran.<\/p>\n
PDKI\u2019s motto, as always, is that continuing the struggle for national rights, liberty, gender equality and democracy is the best tribute to thousands of brave Peshmergas who have sacrificed their lives.<\/p>\n
Scroll through our history by clicking on the arrows to the right and left in the timeline below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On December 17, 1945, the military forces of PDKI overtook the last Iranian military barrack in Mahabad and raised the Kurdish flag. The Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan was established on the same day. The word \u201cPeshmerga\u201d, which in Kurdish means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Qazi.png?fit=620%2C412&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p12yuy-1ll","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5442,"url":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/peshmerga-forces-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":5167,"position":0},"title":"Peshmerga Forces Day","author":"Ali","date":"December 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On December 17, 1945, the military forces of PDKI overtook the last Iranian military barrack in Mahabad and raised the Kurdish national flag. 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The Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan was established on the same day. The word \u201cPeshmerga\u201d, which in Kurdish means those who face death, has for centuries been the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Latest"","block_context":{"text":"Latest","link":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/category\/latest\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/peshmerga.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/peshmerga.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/peshmerga.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/peshmerga.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/peshmerga.jpg?fit=1080%2C720&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6828,"url":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/peshmerga-forces-day-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5167,"position":2},"title":"Peshmerga Forces Day","author":"Ali","date":"December 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On 17 December 1945, the PDKI military forces overtook the last Iranian military barracks in Mahabad and raised the Kurdish national flag. The Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan were established on the same day. 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The Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan was officially founded on the same day. Since then, and every year on December 17, the people in eastern (Iranian) Kurdistan honor the sacrifices of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Press Release"","block_context":{"text":"Press Release","link":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/category\/pressrelease\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/kurdistan_republic_mahabad.jpg?fit=890%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/kurdistan_republic_mahabad.jpg?fit=890%2C594&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/kurdistan_republic_mahabad.jpg?fit=890%2C594&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/kurdistan_republic_mahabad.jpg?fit=890%2C594&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4636,"url":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/iran-resorts-to-indiscriminate-shelling-of-southern-kurdistan\/","url_meta":{"origin":5167,"position":4},"title":"Iran Resorts to Indiscriminate Shelling of Southern Kurdistan","author":"akamr","date":"June 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Following heavy clashes between PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces and Iran\u2019s terrorist Islamic Guards (IRGC), Iran has now resorted to indiscriminate shelling of the border area between eastern (Iranian) and southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan. The indiscriminate shelling has been extended to civilian populated areas inside South Kurdistan. 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In particular, Iran has massed thousands of troops along the border with southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan in close proximity to PDKI\u2019s Peshmerga Forces. Iranian officials have threatened to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Press Release"","block_context":{"text":"Press Release","link":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/category\/pressrelease\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/15513.jpg?fit=500%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5167"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5169,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5167\/revisions\/5169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pdki.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}