Peshmerga Ministry Secretary General: Italy agrees to aid Peshmerga
ROME, Italy (K24) - The Secretary General of the Kurdish Peshmerga Ministry, Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar, stated on Friday that Italian parliament and Defense Ministry have agreed to provide military and humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Region.
In an exclusive interview with K24 TV, member of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation to Italy and Secretary General of Peshmerga Ministry Jabar Yawar pointed out, "We have been meeting with Italian government officials and parliament members for two days. We have gained what we aimed in this visit."
He continued, "Italian Defense Minister and Parliament have accepted the delegation's request to provide military aid to Peshmerga forces."
The delegates have explained the current situation of Kurdistan Region for the Italian Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher and Italian Parliament. "They expressed their support to provide all kind of military support to Peshmerga, and stressed the need to send humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Region for the internally displaced people (IDP)s," Yawar said.
He also stated that many subjects were discussed in the meetings, including Peshmerga's needs, IDPs' affair, financial crisis and Peshmerga's advance in liberating many Kurdish-populated areas in northern Kurdistan from jihadists, especially the current successful military operation of Peshmerga in freeing Sinjar Town.
"They congratulated Peshmerga's successes and emphasized the bravery of Peshmerga forces that fights Islamic State (IS) militants on behalf of the world," Yawar added.
He went on, "We asked them to continue the support of the international coalition airstrikes to Peshmerga forces, training Peshmerga and providing the ammunitions for the weapons that Peshmerga have received before. We also asked for some other big and small weapons, military and health aid for Peshmerga forces."
Yawar noted Italians were not hesitant about the weapons that the KRG delegates requested. "The Human Rights Commission explained that the European countries have sent three billion US dollars to Turkey as humanitarian aid to the refugees in that country, and Kurdistan Region could have a share in this financial support for refugees and IDPs," he stressed.
He also stated that the Interior Minister and Minister for Peshmerga of the KRG Karim Sinjari, who was the head of the KRG delegates to Italy, clearly stated that it is better to send weapons and ammunitions 'directly' to the Kurdistan Region rather that going through Iraqi central government.