Uniting KDP, PUK Peshmerga units requires building trust: minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The minister of Peshmerga said in an interview aired on Thursday that there is a will to create a united Kurdish Peshmerga force, bringing together units that are loyal to political parties, but first trust needs to be built between them.

“I feel there is a will, but this will needs support, it needs the development of more trust, more understanding,” Minister Shorsh Ismail told Rudaw’s Bestoon Othman. “And now is the chance, because we have support, because coalition forces are here. Today we can do this, but maybe we will face a different situation tomorrow.”

The two units that make up the majority of the Peshmerga forces, numbering over 100,000 troops, are controlled by political parties. Unit 70 forces belong to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Unit 80 forces are controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). 

Since the territorial defeat of the Islamic State (ISIS) in late 2017, international coalition partners have pushed for the unification of Kurdish forces under the Peshmerga ministry as part of a reform program that began in 2018. US, German, and British military advisers are assisting with the restructuring. 

Ismail said the two units, after many meetings, now “have a clear idea of how to reorganize their forces,” but work still needs to be done to separate the armed forces from the politics. “We need to try to develop trust between them, and that this force will unite and will not be used for their advantage. This reassurance also has to be given by both PUK and KDP.”

“I’m sure if we don’t create one united Kurdish army, we will face a catastrophe. There needs to be an army that every Kurdish individual considers theirs, an army that belongs to the Kurdish nation, under the Kurdish flag not under any party,” the minister said.

Earlier this month, Najat Ali, commander of KDP’s Unit 80, said they are preparing their brigades to join the Peshmerga Ministry. And last month, Mustafa Chawrash, commander of the PUK’s Unit 70, said they were ready to coordinate and work as a team.

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani recently met with Peshmerga officials. Unification of the forces was among the issues discussed.

The United States has provided funding and equipment for the Peshmerga as part of the campaign to defeat ISIS, but the assistance is for brigades of the ministry, not for politically-affiliated forces.

There are 16 Peshmerga brigades with over 30,000 soldiers under the direct command of the ministry. Reforms to standardize them are going well, Ismail said. The ministry has “successfully been able to reorganize the bridges of the Ministry of Peshmerga to reorganize them and in a standard way.”