Scarf, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), 2017 (c)

Green scarf with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan emblem pattern and portrait of the PUK leader Jalal Talabani (1933-2017), souvenir from Operation SHADER, Iraq, Islamic State Operations (2014-), 2017 (c).

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a political party in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This scarf is a souvenir brought back from the deployment of 2 Mercian Battle Group on Operation SHADER 5, June-December 2017.

'B' Company of the 2 Mercian Battle Group constituted the UK Training Team (Kurdistan) and was based in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. During Operation Shader, British troops were not in a combat role in Iraq but with coalition partners they provided training and equipment to Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Kurdish Security Forces (KSF) to enhance their fighting capability against the Islamic State Forces.