The two sisters are daughters of Khalid Kochar, a deceased Kurdish former military commander who nearly half a century ago left the Kurdistan Region for Syria together with their mother fleeing for their lives due to serious threats on their lives.
Kochar lost contact with his wife and daughters and they never saw each other again.
The veteran Kurdish commander died in 2019.
"My mother was indeed very helpful. She used to give me information about our family. She would always ask us to return [to Duhok]. So we started trying to find them [family members]. Through DNA tests, the job was done. It worked," Zainab Khalid Kochar, one of the returnees said.
Hayam Khalid Kochar, Zainab's sister for her part said: "I was too young at the time. I would not understand anything. The way my mother was recounting for us how their life had been sounded very interesting to be among your family. Therefore, we wanted to see our father again. It was very difficult that we grew up and never saw him again. Yet, I am happy to have seen my siblings here."
After losing hope of seeing his wife and daughters again, Kochar married a second and third wife.
The sisters are married and their mother has also passed away.
Zainab in 1999 and Hayam in 2011 migrated to Germany together with their husbands. Through a special DNA program, they at first managed to find their cousins and through them, they found their siblings.
The day after their return to the Kurdistan Region, the two sisters visited the grave of their father.
