Shafaq News/ The Ministry of Peshmerga revealed a frozen security agreement between the federal and Kurdish security authorities 17 years ago.
The Secretary-General of the Ministry, Jabbar Yawar, said in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, "Paragraph 5 of Law 21 of the Iraqi constitution stipulates allocating police, security and guard forces for each region. It was agreed between higher committees from the Federal Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Peshmerga and the multinational forces in 2007 to transform the Peshmerga into regional guards. An 8-point memorandum of understanding was signed by the two ministries at the time, and was referred to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki."
"The agreement was not discussed in the Council of Ministers or Parliament, unlike the law of al-Hashd al-Shaabi."
Yawar added, "the memorandum of understanding provides for the transformation of the Peshmerga into a regional guard, organizes command and control with the federal government, security tasks, the budget," noting that the region's guard law has not been legislated yet.
According to Yawar, the law stipulates that the Peshmerga are affiliated with the Kurdistan Region and are subject to the authority of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (the president of the region) who is responsible for issuing orders for the Peshmerga units.
Yawar said that the salaries of the Peshmerga are paid by the regional government, which has not paid since 2007 although it is a major item included in all federal budget laws, noting that the Peshmerga did not receive any material support, armament, training, or military equipment from the federal government so far.
