Kore Epic Brought Back Hope to Kurdistan People

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Today, 11 April 2025, marks the 34th anniversary of the Battle of Kore Mountain, in which the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Peshmerga recorded an epic that was unlike any other.

The PUK Peshmerga stood up in the face of the army of the fallen Ba'ath regime and 9 of them were martyred.

Following our people's uprising, which was led by the PUK and the late President Mam Jalal, who organised the uprising in accordance with a detailed plan with the support of the Kurdistan people in order to overthrow the dictatorship and free Kurdistan, this day turned into a historical epic.

On 7 April 1991, the fallen regime's army bombed the areas of Saladin and Safeen Mountain to repel the Peshmerga's advance, but Peshmerga forces led by martyr Hassan Kwestani, who directly supervised the operations of the Kore mountain, and Kosrat Rasoul, who supervised the Shaqlawa front of the Peshmerga, were able to defeat the army's advance during violent clashes that erupted in Kore and lasted 24 hours. Following its defeat in Kore, the dissolved regime's army proposed negotiations with the Kurdistan Front.

Veteran Peshmerga and an eyewitness to the Kore epic, Ibrahim Omar, told PUKMEDIA:" The heroic response of the Peshmerga restored hope to the people of Kurdistan... Mr. Kosrat Rasul Ali supervised the course of the battle."

"The violent clashes in Kore resulted in the martyrdom of 11 members of the Peshmerga, 9 of whom were from the PUK," he added.

"Because of the positions that were held by the PUK and the Kurdistan Toilers Party, we were able to resist and did not allow the army of the defunct regime to advance, but rather attacked to liberate the mountain and inflict a severe defeat on the enemy," he said.

On Newroz of 1991, the Kurds succeeded in reaching Kirkuk and liberating it after the 1991 uprising. But when the balance of power shifted, the regime once more launched attacks and moved closer to Sulaymaniyah. The Peshmerga forces, particularly the PUK Peshmergas, resisted the Ba'ath regime's attempts to occupy the region during that time. Two well-known epics, the Epic of Mount Azmar, which was led by Jabar Farman, and the Epic of Kore, which prevented the army of the former Iraqi regime from occupying the area and served as a buffer for the Kurdish people's safety, were documented by the PUK.
 


PUKMEDIA