ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Following a dozen years in the diaspora, Peshraw Dizayee returned to the Kurdistan Region about two decades ago with hopes of starting a business. Swiftly achieving success, he emerged as a prominent entrepreneur, with one of his projects evolving into a significant landmark in the Kurdish capital city of Erbil. Dizayee’s dream to continue being on the frontline of efforts to create a more prosperous Kurdistan died with him on Monday, under the flares of Iranian missiles.
In the late hours of Monday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ten ballistic missiles toward Erbil, under the pretext of targeting “spy headquarters” of anti-Iran groups, killing Dizayee and three other people. His mansion was described by Tehran as a Mossad base - a claim strongly denied by Kurdish officials.
Dizayee was born in Erbil province in 1966. In 1991, the year after Kurds staged an uprising against the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein the situation in the Kurdistan Region grew dire, triggering a great wave of emigration to Europe, a wave Dizayee was part of.
He headed to Sweden and lived there until the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 when he returned to the war-torn country and established a business in Baghdad.
He later made his way back to Erbil, where he took part in efforts to develop the city’s infrastructure. His most notable achievement is the construction of the Empire World residential project, featuring striking skyscrapers that adorn the skyline of the Erbil, iconic landmarks towering over the Kurdish capital.
He also established Falcon Group conglomerate which provides services in several fields, including security, oil, gas, construction, and agriculture. “We are pleased to provide security services to many international oil companies,” boasts the company on its website.
Around 2018, he built an opulent residence on Erbil-Pirman road, intending to make it his lifelong abode.
“He loved the house and he would enthusiastically show it to his relatives. He just followed his heart when designing it,” Kamiran Dizayee, a close relative of the Kurdish businessman told Rudaw English.
End of a dream
Dizayee split his time between Erbil and Dubai.
“He wanted to develop Erbil in order to elevate it to the level of cities like Dubai,” his relative said.
Kurdish officials have in recent years promised to turn Erbil into another Dubai but the financial crisis has prevented that dream from coming true.
Iranian ballistic missiles on Monday reduced most of his meticulously crafted residence to ashes. He had returned from abroad only a few days prior.
Apart from Dizayee, the victims of the strike include his eleven-month-old daughter, Zhina, a housekeeper, and Iraqi businessman Karam Mikhail, who was visiting his Kurdish friend.
“I have never heard that he had any issues with anyone or any party and no one had threatened him,” Salar Hawar Agha, a cousin of Dizayee, told Rudaw.
“The accusations shocked us more than the attacks did because Mr. Peshraw was not involved in political and partisan activities and had no ties with intelligence agencies. He was purely neutral,” Dizayee’s office told Rudaw, adding that other members of the family who were targeted by Iran as well, were also not involved in politics.
His older son, Roj, 25, lost a hand in the strike. Rawan, his other son, is slightly injured.
He had two wives. The younger one, Hana Jutyar, was also injured in the bombardment.
Dizayee was a philanthropist, funding schools, hospitals and families of Peshmerga fighters who lost their lives in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson of the Iranian foreign ministry on Tuesday said that the ballistic missile strike on Erbil was in line with Tehran's defense of its sovereignty, security, and the mission of "combating terrorism." The Iraqi foreign ministry summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires to hand him a protest note in response to the attacks on the same day.
Kanaani reiterated the IRGC’s early Tuesday morning claim of having targeted “spy headquarters,” more specifically Israel’s Mossad-affiliated center, in the Kurdistan Region’s capital.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji headed a high-level security delegation to Erbil to assess the aftermath of the Iranian bombardment of the Kurdish capital. After inspecting the targeted location, he concluded that claims about the presence of Mossad base in Erbil are “baseless.”
In March 2022 Iran hit the residence of Baz Karim Barzinji, the CEO and founder of the Iraqi-Kurdish oil company KAR Group, claiming it was a Mossad base.
Barzinji survived the attack.
Sirwan Abbas contributed to this article.