Peshmerga, Iraqi army to share control of Makhmour military posts

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Peshmerga and the Iraqi army have agreed to share control of military posts in Makhmour that were at the centre of a deadly altercation last month between the two forces after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) announced their withdrawal, a Kurdish commander said on Friday. 

“It has been decided to divide the three military posts into six - three will be controlled by Peshmerga and the others will be ruled by the Iraqi army,” Ghazi Faysal, a commander of a Peshmerga volunteer unit in Makhmour, told Rudaw.

Clashes broke out between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army late last month near Makhmour Refugee Camp following the withdrawal of the PKK from three military posts. The altercation was initially reported as a dispute over who should replace PKK fighters in the area, but Kurdish officials later attributed it to a “misunderstanding.” 

Makhmour Refugee Camp houses thousands of Kurds who fled Turkey decades ago. The camp has often come under Turkish bombardment. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that it is a “breeding ground” for the PKK - an armed group struggling for increased rights of Kurds in Turkey but designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara.

Faysal said residents of the camp are opposed to the presence of Peshmerga forces affiliated with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which enjoys close ties with Turkey.

“First, they have issues with the KDP friends and they believe that the Iraqi government can provide them with ground and aerial protection,” noted Faysal, who is affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Sirwan Barzani, commander of Peshmerga forces in Makhmour, said on Thursday that he met with a senior delegation from the Iraqi army and “agreed on the exact positions to ensure better coordination for the safety of the area.”

The same day, residents of the camp held a protest against the agreement. The Iraqi army told angry protesters that no military post had been handed over to the Peshmerga, according to Faysal.  

Four members of Peshmerga forces, including a brigade commander and his deputy, were killed in the Makhmour clashes and several others were injured. 

The Iraqi army had demanded control of the vacated military posts in return for providing security for the camp. The posts, however, are located within the jurisdiction of the Peshmerga forces. Makhmour sits along the disputed border between the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq. There is a plan to establish joint Peshmerga-Iraqi brigades to secure these disputed areas, including Makhmour, but it is yet to be fully implemented.