Baghdad should provide budget for joint Iraqi-Peshmerga brigades: PM Masrour Barzani
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Saturday during a conference underlined that Baghdad should provide a budget for the establishment of joint Iraqi army-Peshmerga brigades to fill the security vacuum in the disputed territories.
He said that unfortunately Article 140, which calls for normalization of the disputed territories, was not implemented by Baghdad.
“Now you can see there are security gaps between Peshmerga and Iraqi federal troops. We suggested establishing two joint brigades to provide security to the area and confront ISIS sleeper cells,” he said at the sidelines of the “Kurdish question in the Middle East” organized jointly by the Soran University, Sciences Po and the Centre Français de Recherche sur l'Irak.
“But unfortunately Iraq hasn't provided a budget for these joint forces, but if they provide a budget, then we can fill this (security) gap.”
After the Kurdistan Region's 2017 Sept. independence referendum, Iraqi forces and Iran-backed forces pushed the Peshmerga out of the disputed territories.
Since then, ISIS has exploited wide security gaps between Iraqi Security Forces and Peshmerga front-line positions, endangering civilians in the area.
Read More: Iraq, Kurdistan Region reach preliminary agreement on joint forces in disputed territories
Officials from Iraq and the autonomous Kurdistan Region reached a preliminary agreement in August 2021 on the formation of two joint brigades from both federal Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga security forces to be deployed to territories disputed by Baghdad and Erbil.
A US Defense Department Lead Inspector General report, which covers the second quarter of 2022 (April 1, 2022 – June 30), also confirmed the plan to establish a new joint Iraqi-Peshmerga brigade was stalled due to lack of a new Iraqi federal budget.
Read More: UN calls for implementing Sinjar Agreement on 8th anniversary of Yezidi Genocide
PM Masrour Barzani also said the UN-backed Oct 2020 Sinjar agreement signed between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its Iraqi counterpart to stabilize the security in Sinjar was also not implemented.
“The Sinjar agreement could have played an effective role in establishing security in the area, but again the Iraqi government didn’t fulfill its obligation and responsibility to implement the Sinjar agreement.”
PM Masrour Barzani also said that the Kurdistan Region always had an open door policy for refugees fleeing terror.
“After the outbreak of the war against ISIS, more than two million people from other parts of Iraq, Syria and neighboring countries fled to Kurdistan,” he said. “They fled from terrorism (...) and consider Kurdistan a safe place.”
“This is our culture and the principles we believe in.”