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Barzani: Kurdistan should have an
organised army
24.7.2006 |
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Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan-iraq , -- The president
of the Kurdistan region in Iraq Massoud Barazani
said the Kurdish autonomous province should have an
organised army to defend it against interested
parties.
Speaking after a meeting with the Peshmerga Kurdish
militias and the border guards, President Barzani
said the Kurdistan army
should be neutral and loyal not to any specific
party or leader but to the Kurdish people.
“The Peshmerga have never been belligerent forces
but have been and will always be defensive troops,”
he said.
The Peshmerga are armed Kurdish fighters who fought
alongside US troops in the 2003 Iraq War in Iraqi
Kurdistan.
Since then, the Peshmerga have taken over security
of the Kurdish areas of Kurdistan (northern Iraq).
The Iraqi constitution
gives the Kurdistan province the right to have its
own army.
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Massoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan
Region in Iraq |
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But recently, there have been proposals by
government officials stipulating the possibility
that militias will join the Iraqi army, but no
specific agreement has been announced.
A senior Kurdish official said that the Kurdish
leader’s call for a fully recognised official army
was an “open message” to Iran and Turkey who have
recently shelled border villages under the pretext
of pursuing following Kurdish rebels.
DPA
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