Margaret George Shello (Margaret Giwargis d-Gilu; 21 January 1942 – 26 December 1969), also known as Margaret George Malik or just Margaret George, was a famous Assyrian guerilla fighter and commander of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces during the First Iraqi–Kurdish War. Originally a hospital worker, Shello joined the Peshmerga at the age of 20 in 1963 after her village was attacked by a pro-Iraqi government militia. She was the first female Peshmerga fighter and attracted considerable renown both in Iraq and internationally as the female leader of an all-male unit. In Western Europe, she became known as the "Joan of Arc of the Kurdish Revolution".
After leading her unit successfully in several battles, Shello was killed in unclear circumstances in 1969. Several contradictory accounts have been presented by different groups concerning the manner of her death. Many accounts place the blame on the Kurds, variously claiming that Shello was killed for demanding a higher leadership position, for championing the Assyrian cause as well, or for being sexually involved with some high-ranking member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Others have blamed her death on assassination either by a rival Kurdish group or by the Iraqi government. She remains one of the most famous Peshmerga commanders and is revered by both Kurds and Assyrians as a freedom fighter, a symbol of bravery and an icon.
Background
The Assyrians are an ethnic and Christian religious minority in the Middle East, concentrated mainly in their homeland in northern Iraq. They to a large extent inhabit the same lands as the largest minority group in the region, the Kurds, with whom they for most of their history have coexisted with peacefully. Since 1843, relations between Assyrians and Kurds have often been hostile, motivated by repeated atrocities against the Assyrians in which Kurds took part as well as the independence movements of both groups harming the movements of the other since proposed self-governing territories often overlapped. Under the various Iraqi regimes since the country's independence from the United Kingdom in 1932, the Iraqi government enacted policies and measures to curb both the Kurdish and Assyrian cultures, including not only cultural efforts but also massacres and destructions of villages.
At the time of Margaret George Shello in the 1960s, there were broadly speaking two major camps among the Assyrians; those who lived in towns and cities and tended to identify with the Iraqi government and those who lived in the country-side and sided more with the Kurdish efforts to establish an independent Kurdistan. Many Assyrians, particularly in the mountainous regions in the northeast, were drawn to the Kurds because of their struggle for autonomy and their fight against the Iraqi government; they were not necessarily in support of a greater Kurdistan which also included their lands. Whether the Assyrians fought for the Kurds or alongside them for their own goal is still a matter of dispute. In any case, Assyrian contribution to the movement was immense. Assyrian leaders were invited to meetings of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and many waged war alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga militia, sometimes in their own battalions, manned and led by Assyrians.
Biography
Margaret George Shello was a Christian Assyrian woman, born on 21 January 1942 in the village Dūra, located in the mountainous Barwari region in the Duhok Governorate. Shello had a sister (Rosa) and a brother. Her father was recruited to the Kurdish cause in 1961 by Mustafa Barzani. Shello's father at some point attempted to marry her to one of his business partners but she did not approve of the marriage and refused to live with her "husband".
Peshmerga
Originally a hospital worker, Shello joined the Peshmerga at the age of 20 in 1963 after her village was attacked by a pro-government militia (jash). Initially continuing to work with medical tasks, she quickly rose to become a military leader. Shello was the first female Peshmerga fighter and attracted renown as the female leader of an all-male unit, based somewhere in the vicinity of Akre. In contrast to the Muslim Kurdish women, who were not allowed to fight, Shello's right to fight, despite her gender, was secured through her Christian faith and her family members already being involved in the movement.
Shello's fame was further increased after she killed a prominent jash leader. She fought in the First Iraqi–Kurdish War, leading her forces into battle several times, notably commanding the Peshmerga forces to great success at the Battle of the Zawita Valley.