Peshmerga Ministry Secretary: Efforts to Unite Peshmerga Force Continue

Kurdistan 04:50 PM - 2024-07-08

Lieutenant Colonel Bakhtiar Mohammed, the Secretary General of the Peshmerga Ministry.

The Secretary General of the Peshmerga Ministry stated that their efforts to unite the Kurdish Peshmerga forces continue and that the International Coalition's assistance to their forces continues.

In an exclusive interview with PUKMEDIA, Lieutenant Colonel Bakhtiar Mohammed, the Secretary General of the Peshmerga Ministry, said: "The ongoing reform process in the Peshmerga Ministry persists, and endeavours to consolidate the forces persist as well, despite the fact that the pace of the process falls short of our expectations for a more swift implementation."

"It is important to note that political factors, material challenges, and the dynamics between the parties involved, as well as the relationship between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, have also had an impact on the process and caused it to slow down," he added.

We have asked for a defence system

Drones from neighbouring countries frequently fly over the Kurdistan Region's airspace, prompting the Ministry of Peshmerga to request a defence system from the International Coalition.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed remarked that the breach of the Kurdistan Region's airspace and the deliberate targeting of some locations by externally-operated drones have had an adverse effect on the stability in these places.

"We have requested assistance from the International Coalition to supply us with a defence system; however, we have not yet received it," he stated.

International Coalition's assistance continues

Regarding the financial assistance of the International Coalition, the Secretary General of the Peshmerga Ministry further stated: "The coalition's assistance, previously provided as salary to the combined brigades, is now being allocated to the Peshmerga forces as assistance in accordance with the coalition's required standards."

"Baghdad will pay the salaries of the Peshmerga Ministry and the combined brigades. However, the Peshmerga forces will continue to be under the Peshmerga Ministry. Nevertheless, there will be further efforts to enhance the relationship between the Peshmerga forces and Iraq's federal security forces," he stated.

In February, the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court mandated the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to provide a detailed account of the monthly budget allocated for the salaries of the Region's employees to the federal ministry of finance. This was done to enable Baghdad to start the payment of the Region's portion from the federal budget. However, the two governments still haven't reached an agreement on the salaries of the Kurdistan Region's Peshmerga forces.

According to a statement issued by the KRG's Ministry of Finance, the security forces including (The Forces 70 & 80, the Security Council, the Security (Asayish) Agency, Zeravani Forces, the Defecse and Emergency Forces, the Oil Institutions Protection Police Directorate, the Interior Ministry guards) have received only one salary in 92 days.

The information and data have been sent to the Iraqi Finance Ministry

Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed explained that the delay in the Peshmergas' salaries is due to the Iraqi Financial Supervision Bureau's request for updated information. 

"The KRG is currently working on fulfilling these requests in order to resend the information to Iraq," he said.

"Once the updated information is sent to the Supervision Bureau and the Iraqi Ministry of Finance, the Peshmerga's updated salary list will undergo an audit. If no issues are found, a decision will be made to disburse the salaries of the Peshmerga Ministry," stated Bakhtiar.



PUKMEDIA