Kurd Kit Conundrum: The Kurdish Şal û Şepik
Şal û Şepik from zozan.com, a now defunct online store.
By Ryan and Diego
The Kurds are a stateless minority that inhabit modern day Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran and number in the 35 million range within those respective countries. Many of their military factions popularly covered by the media are typically the Peshmerga, the armed force which is tasked with protecting the Kurdistan regional government in Northern Iraq, as well as the Syrian Democratic Forces’ YPG and YPJ militia in Northern Syria.
These Kurdish militant groups are not a new phenomenon, and come from a long heritage of armed resistance throughout the 20th century. The Kurdish political leader, Abdullah Öcalan founded Kongra-Gel, the People’s Congress in 1974, which evolved into the Workers’ Party of Kurdistan (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê) in 1978. A Marxist-Leninist organization, the party’s goal was to achieve national liberation for the Kurdish people and establish an independent, socialist Kurdistan. Following the 1980 military coup in Turkey, the party would begin to mobilize its own armed forces in the form of the People’s Liberation Army of Kurdistan, the PKK would see its first conflict in the Lebanese Civil War alongside the PLO and PFLP, particularly in the 1982 Israeli invasion against the IDF and aligned Lebanese Forces paramilitary.
Max Petrovitch’s kit during MSW: Ruins of Saratov
Two years later, the PKK would initiate its armed uprising against the Turkish state, a conflict which would develop in all four regions of Kurdistan in different capacities. In 1999 however, Öcalan was captured in a joint operation between Turkish, American and Israeli intelligence services. Originally facing execution, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment on İmralı island. Since then, the PKK has pivoted away from its goal of independence, adopting a model of Democratic Confederalism. The People’s Liberation Army would be phased into the People’s Defence Forces (HPG) and its womens’ counterpart, the Free Womens’ Units (YJA-STAR).
FET Middle East enthusiasts witha YPG and PKK kit, respectively
Şal û Şepiks are an article of Kurdish menswear and have been staples of Kurdish culture for many centuries, with variations existing between regions and time periods. In the 20th century this clothing became a symbol of Kurdish resistance, first notably during the Soviet-Backed Mahabad uprising lead by Qazi Muhammad, and then later by the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga prior to the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Formal Şal û Şepik (indyturk.com)
The outfit draws from the rural agrarian heritage of the Kurds consists of long baggy trousers, which originally were meant to accommodate for horseback riding, a button down shirt, and typically an overshirt or vest typically made out of wool gabardine. The trousers are held up by a long cloth waist belt called a Kurmanshi Pishtwin. Oftentimes, formal variants of these suits are worn for special occasions, such as weddings or Newroz new year’s celebrations. This will often be worn with a traditional scarf similar to the Keffiyeh, which in Kurdish is called Jamana or Pushi. Some individual Kurdish men will choose to wear Şal û Şepiks as daily wear as well.
In the early days of the PKK, their fighters would don more improvised guerilla attire, matching the clothing of their PLO counterparts, as well as olive drab tunics similar to other Eastern Bloc armies of the time. Beginning in the late 80s and early 90s, the PKK’s fighters and its Iranian-Kurdish counterpart, PJAK, adopted a uniform based on the traditional Kurdish Şal û Şepik, in a more olive green to brown color scheme. On the contrary the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, a liberal center-right party aligned with the KDP in Iraq, will use light brown or khaki colored uniforms.
The Şepiks provide a distinctive appearance for the militants, in order to comply with the International Laws of Armed Conflict, mandating that all combatants wear an identifiable uniform in order to minimize civilian casualties. For the PKK and its allies, the Şal û Şepik consists of the characteristic baggy trousers, collared shirt, and oftentimes accompanied by a multi-pocket vest. The uniforms are made of a wool or polycotton blend. Its shirt is usually zippered instead of buttoned like the traditional Şal û Şepik, sometimes with mandarin collars instead of the traditional collars. As for the Kurmanshi Pishtwin, while the PKK do wear the belts in traditional color patterns, they typically will wear ones in varying shades of green, brown or tan while on operations, usually supported by an ALICE style belt in order to secure their kit more properly.
Later into MSW Ruins of Saratov, Max opted for kamysh trousers. While not accurate, it is due to concerns of the trousers wearing out during the event.
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