Kurdish photojournalist wins Korean award for images of wounded Peshmerga
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A Kurdish photojournalist said he has won a South Korean photography award for his images of Peshmerga wounded during the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS).
Younes Mohammed, a native of Duhok and now living in Erbil, said organizers of the Let's DMZ 2020 Peace and Environment International Photo Awards informed him of the honour, which will be officially announced next month.
"I dedicate this award to the Peshmerga," Mohammed told Rudaw on Saturday. "This achievement I made is fruit of the plight and pains of the Peshmerga, which made the festival bow down in honour of them.”
The aim of the festival is to spread a message of peace and environmental conservation and takes inspiration from Korea’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the north and south.
Mohammed, 48, said he is "unlikely" to visit South Korea for the award ceremony or an exhibition of the winning photographs because of the coronavirus pandemic. His winning photographs are part of a bigger project and a planned book about Peshmerga wounded in the battle with ISIS.
More than 10,000 Peshmerga were wounded and nearly 1,800 killed during the four-year war with ISIS. They have received treatment at local hospitals and abroad for specialized care they could not receive within the Kurdistan Region.
ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but the group has continued to operate in small groups, conducting deadly attacks on military personnel and civilians, and extorting funds from local populations.
Younes Mohammed, a native of Duhok and now living in Erbil, said organizers of the Let's DMZ 2020 Peace and Environment International Photo Awards informed him of the honour, which will be officially announced next month.
"I dedicate this award to the Peshmerga," Mohammed told Rudaw on Saturday. "This achievement I made is fruit of the plight and pains of the Peshmerga, which made the festival bow down in honour of them.”
The aim of the festival is to spread a message of peace and environmental conservation and takes inspiration from Korea’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the north and south.
Mohammed, 48, said he is "unlikely" to visit South Korea for the award ceremony or an exhibition of the winning photographs because of the coronavirus pandemic. His winning photographs are part of a bigger project and a planned book about Peshmerga wounded in the battle with ISIS.
More than 10,000 Peshmerga were wounded and nearly 1,800 killed during the four-year war with ISIS. They have received treatment at local hospitals and abroad for specialized care they could not receive within the Kurdistan Region.
ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in December 2017, but the group has continued to operate in small groups, conducting deadly attacks on military personnel and civilians, and extorting funds from local populations.