Peshmerga Ministry Chief Of Staff Meets German Consul General And Military Advisers, Asks Continued Support
The Peshmerga Ministry says the two sides discussed continuing military cooperation, with a new German advisory team, after Germany ended its troop mission in the Region
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Kurdistan Region’s Peshmerga Ministry said Lt. Gen. Issa Ozer, its chief of staff, on Thursday received Dr. Christian Olfke, the German consul general in Erbil, and the German military attaché in Baghdad, along with a delegation of German military advisers.
The ministry said the meeting, attended by its director general for media and national awareness and its director of coordination and relations, discussed continuing military cooperation and coordination between the two sides, especially in military advisory work and the continued support of Germany’s advisory teams for the ministry.
Ozer thanked the German government, people and army for what he called their important and effective role in supporting and strengthening the Peshmerga Ministry’s capabilities in past years, particularly in reform, logistical support, training and exercises and other military fields.
He said he hoped the process will continue and that, through the German army’s new advisory team, the two sides would begin a new stage of working together.
The consul general thanked him for the reception and reaffirmed Germany’s commitment to continue its support, according to the ministry.
He said Germany, under understandings between Germany and Iraq, will keep a number of its military advisers in the Kurdistan Region and work to continue the coordination, partnership and development of military ties.
The meeting comes after Germany ended its military mission in the Region.
The Peshmerga Ministry held a ceremony on August 26 at Camp Stephan at Erbil International Airport marking the end of the German advisers’ mission, which began in 2015, and the last 28 German soldiers returned to Germany after the camp was handed over to Iraqi forces and the mission ended on September 30.
The German defense ministry said earlier that a team of military advisers would stay in Erbil, working from the consulate general instead of the airport base. The German mission ends as the international coalition against ISIS wraps up its work in Iraq.