How to Build a Unified Peshmerga Loyal to Kurdistan, Not Parties

Dr. Sherko Hama-Amin | Exclusive to iKurd.net
Translated by iKurd.net from Kurdish Awene

On the Occasion of the So-Called Unification of the Peshmerga Forces

How Can the Peshmerga Forces Be Freed from the Control of the KDP and PUK?

How Can a National, Non-Party Military Force Be Established?

In 2013 and the years that followed, when Goran participated in the eighth cabinet and Massoud Barzani was President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region and Commander-in-Chief of the Region’s armed forces, Mr. Nawshirwan, may he rest in peace, submitted two proposals and roadmaps to the President of the Region concerning the protection of the areas covered by Article 140. We will discuss this on another occasion, along with the unification of the Peshmerga forces and the establishment of a national army, as follows:

1. The President of the Region should issue an order preventing Units 70 and 80 from recruiting new Peshmerga members.

2. Older commanders and officers should be retired.

3. Officers who have graduated from military colleges or similar institutions should remain.

4. Every year, around 28,000 students graduate from universities and institutes. Military service should be opened to them, and they should be recruited without regard to their political party affiliation. They should receive six months of military training and education.

5. After the six-month period, those who remain should enter military service and join the Peshmerga forces and the Kurdistan Army. In this way, a national, non-party army would be established over the course of several years. It would become the Kurdistan Army and be freed from the control of political parties.

This is the correct approach. They did not do it then, and they have not done it now, not through the mere unification of regional commands or a superficial show of unity.

This article was originally published in the Kurdish language in Awene Newspaper on September 21, 2026.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of iKurd.net or its editorial team.