Cevdet Döğer

Early life and rebel activity

Little is known of Kurd's early life, but he is said to have been born as Cevdet Döğer, a Kurd from Turkey, namely the town of Solhan located in Bingöl Province. He would have traveled from his native town to Chechnya in 1999 after transiting through the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia.

At his death Turkish and Georgian identity papers, belonging to "Cevdet Döğer", were found in Kurd's baggage, which were released by the Russian Government soon afterwards. However, the Turkish and Georgian governments both stated that there was not such a person registered in their databases, which means that the documents are likely to be false. The indicated date of birth, April 20,1977, also was very doubtful because this would mean that he joined the battle at the age of 14.

Death

Kurd was killed on 3 May 2011 in a special operation near the village of Sharo-Argun, in the Cheberloevsky area of Chechnya. According to the Russian NAK, a contingent of pro-Moscow Chechen Federal Security Service (FSB) troops along with Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) forces conducting search and reconnaissance activities in forested, mountainous terrain came across Kurd and a Dagestani militant; both were killed in the ensuing skirmish.

A rebel account of Kurd's death released nearly two years later offered new information. According to Kavkaz Center, Russian forces located and surrounded a small rebel base acting on a tip from Beslan Algiriyev, an FSB plant in the militant ranks. Four fighters were present at the encampment: killed alongside Kurd was a 24-year-old Dagestani militant identified as Ramzan Bartiyev, while two others identified as Aburayk Yusupkhadzhiyev and Isa Vagapov were wounded but escaped the encirclement (only later to be killed alongside Khuseyn Gakayev in January 2013). Algiriyev's status as an agent of the FSB was eventually discovered, and he was executed on 22 August 2011.

Kurd's Turkish passport containing visas to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan was recovered at the scene and later displayed via Russian news outlets which claimed he was in communication with Osama bin Laden.