ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – On Monday, the body of Oliver Höfner, a German war veteran and General Head of the Training Division for the Erbil-based Barza Security Company was flown back to Germany after he died four weeks ago after suffering an unexpected a heart attack.
For nearly nine years, he trained thousands of Kurdish guards and also volunteered in support of Kurdish Peshmerga troops in the fight against the Islamic State.
“Today, we are paying our final farewell to someone who has served for more than eight years in our company,” Rapar Nasrat, Barza’s Executive Director, said during a farewell ceremony on Monday in Erbil’s Rizgari hospital.
“Today we are sending his body to Germany. We thank everyone who helped with the paperwork to facilitate his return and those who helped with donations or official process; we shake their hands out of respect.”
He continued, “Now we would leave flowers for our promise to Oliver, and we will start to send his body to the Erbil airport. We pray that God will be satisfied with Oliver, and he will rest in paradise. We wish his friends, family, and the German people patience to overcome this grief.”
Höfner lived in the Kurdistan Region since 2011 after serving twenty years in the German army and participating in multiple missions in Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and later in Iraq.
“When I was in [the] Iraq war [from] 2003 to 2007, I got some tours in south Iraq and 2005 was the first time [I was] in Kurdistan,” he told Kurdistan TV in a past interview. “It was nice to see. When I got the chance in 2011 to come back, I took my chance.”
While working for the Barza Security Company, he trained nearly 1,500 security guards every year. He pointed out that this meant he trained roughly 15,000 security guards in total. “It’s not only security guards,” he said, but also “Peshmerga, Asayish, [and] policemen.”
Regarding his volunteer support for the Peshmerga on the frontline against the Islamic State, he said he did so “for my Kurdish friends and for all the people I love in Kurdistan. This is Kurdistan, it’s very simple. These are the brave men that serve in the desert and mountain. It’s amazing, and I trust them. They are [some] of the bravest and toughest guys I ever saw. I really love them, and really love to work with them.”
In the end, he called on the Kurds to work together and solve their [internal problems]. “Long live Kurdistan,” was his final message.