ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkish military experts will train Kurdish Peshmerga forces on advanced weapons for the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), Kurdistan’s minister for parliamentary affairs, Mawlud Bawamurad told Rudaw.
Bawamurad said that during his visit to the Kurdistan Region on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also visited the Bapishtan training camp near Erbil where he pledged his country’s security support for the Kurdish forces.
“By his visit to the training camp the Turkish PM wanted to convey this message; ‘We have experts that will train Peshmerga forces on weapons we have supplied to them,” said Bawamurad.
According to Bawamurad the Turkish premier had made it clear to the Iraqi leaders on his visit to Baghdad “that the Kurdistan Region is recognized by the Iraqi constitution and that Ankara will continue its relations with the region.”
In the past two months Kurdish forces have received military equipment and modern weapons from their Western allies while Germany and Britain are already training Peshmerga forces on the use of anti tank weapons and bomb disposal.
Also on Friday, Turkey’s deputy PM Yalcin Akdogan said that Ankara’s improving relations with Baghdad wouldn’t affect the established ties between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region.
“We have active relations with the Kurdistan Region and we would want to expand these relations in every aspect,” Akdogan told Rudaw.
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