Cemetery in Iraq

[Guest jbd]

On the lunchtime news today there was a brief piece abot the Kurds in Iraq.

The was a panoramic shot of a Kurdish cemetery whic hlooked very similar to a CWGC cemetery.

The stones were unique wth a rounded top that culminated in a point. They appeared wider than the CWGC standard and were inscribed in the local language. Whilst there was no suggestion that the CWGC were involved in the construction, it seemed to me that they were based on CWGC designs.

Barrie Dobson

[Frank_East]

I would think that they are the war graves of Moslem soldiers.

Moslem soldiers graves in France are usually found amongst the graves of other religious denominations.All have the distinctive headstone as described with French inscriptions of course.

However in Sigolsheim,nr Colmar,Alsace there is a large impressive military cemetery on the hill overlooking Colmar devoted solely to the Moslem dead of the FFI. All fell in the battle to take Colmar in January 1945 and have headstones as described.

Could these graves in northern Iraq be the dead of Arabs who fought with the British to evict the Turks from Mesopotamia in 1918?.On the other hand is the cemetery a Turkish military cemetery?

Regards

Frank East