Iraq
Bashir al-Haddad, deputy speaker of Iraqi parliament (second from left) and Shorsh Ismail, Minister of Peshmerga Affairs (right) at a press conference in Erbil on January 4, 2021. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The absence of the Peshmerga in some parts of the disputed territories has “intensified problems” locally, a deputy Iraqi parliament speaker said on Monday.
Deputy speaker Bashir al-Haddad met with Shorsh Ismail, the Minister of Peshmerga Affairs for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Monday to discuss the return of the Peshmerga to territories in northern Iraq whose control is contested by Erbil and Baghdad, and cooperation between the Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in those areas.
The cooperation is needed “to abolish the [security] vacuum the terrorists benefit from,” and to secure the rights and lives of residents of those territories, Haddad said at a press conference after the meeting in Erbil.
“Especially these days, in the disputed territories around Kirkuk in Palkana, Sargaran, Daquq, as well as Khanaqin, some incidents happen over land,” Haddad said.
“For these issues, the Iraqi Army or the federal police intervenes due to the absence of Peshmerga forces, which has intensified problems,” he said.
Talks on the return of Peshmerga to some disputed territory and joint cooperation between Iraqi and Kurdish forces have stalled “not [due to] the Iraqi government, but some political factions in Iraq’s parliament,” Haddad added.
Peshmerga affairs minister Shorsh Ismail said his ministry is looking forward to reaching “a political agreement” with the Iraqi government to return the Peshmerga forces to the disputed territories.
“The sooner there is an agreement for the Peshmerga to return to those territories, the more it benefits Iraq, and the future of Iraq,” Ismail said.
The return of Peshmerga forces to those territories is “fundamentally beneficial” for Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds and other ethnic groups to prevent “political and social problems” as well as Arabization, Ismail said.
The territories disputed by Iraq’s central government in Baghdad and the KRG in Erbil comprise of areas in Nineveh, and the provinces of Kirkuk, Salahaddin and Diyala.
Following the Kurdish independence referendum of September 2017, the Iraqi Army and Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi) launched an offensive against Peshmerga forces in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk and other areas disputed by Erbil and Baghdad.
A lack of security force presence in parts of the disputed territory has created fertile ground for the resurfacing of the Islamic State (ISIS). In response to the worsening security situation, Iraq’s defense ministry and the KRG’s Peshmerga ministry began talks in February 2019 for a joint mechanism to administer the disputed territories.
The two ministries agreed in July 2020 to establish joint coordination rooms for their security forces in a bid to eliminate active ISIS cells, and have carried out limited joint operations since.
The disputed territories were once home to ethnically diverse populations, but under Baathist rule, Iraq’s ethnic minority groups including Kurds were expelled, their land confiscated and given to Arab settlers.
Article 140 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution, calls for compensation for both Arab settlers and expelled Kurds, and the return of lands to their Kurdish owners, but the article was never implemented.
Kurds in the village of Palkana, Kirkuk province have alleged in recent weeks that they have been forced off their farmland and their homes by the Iraqi Army and by the PMF.
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