After the military victory over the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS), Germany pledged support to the Iraqi Kurds when it comes to the return of around one million internally displaced persons. This was confirmed by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock after a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Kurdish autonomous regions in northern Iraq, Masrur Barsani, in the Kurdish capital of Erbil. “Nobody wants to live in a camp all their lives,” said the Greens politician. “That’s why it’s important for us that people can return to their homeland” and that they can lead a life in dignity there.
Again and again attacks
The IS threat “still casts a shadow over this region.” The security forces are still under great pressure to “keep this terrorist threat in check”. In addition, forces from outside and inside tried to “split and thus destabilize and thus thwart social and economic development,” said Baerbock, referring to attacks from Iran and Turkey in northern Iraq and inner-Kurdish conflicts.
“It is all the more important that all the forces that stand for security work together.” The German contribution in this context is “above all a contribution to stabilization and security”. In Erbil, the Bundeswehr is training Kurdish security forces in the fight against IS.
A few years ago, the IS terrorist militia controlled large areas in Iraq and Syria. The jihadists have been considered militarily defeated since 2017, but IS cells continue to carry out attacks. When the jihadists overran the region around the Sinjar mountains in northern Iraq in 2014, they killed and abducted thousands of people. Many women were enslaved and raped. Kurdish fighters eventually drove IS out of the region. The United Nations speaks of genocide against the ethnic-religious minority of Yazidis living there. In January, the Bundestag officially recognized the crimes of IS as genocide.
elections are to take place
Prime Minister Barzani said the regional government hopes to hold regional elections, which were postponed last year, by the end of the year. At the same time, he criticized any violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and the Kurdistan region, “regardless of which side”. He strongly condemned Iran’s drone and missile attacks. Barsani criticized that the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which operates in northern Iraq and is banned in Turkey, has contributed to attacks from Turkey and to destabilization.
Turkey regularly takes action against offshoots of the PKK in northern Iraq. The PKK also attacks people there who they don’t think are cooperating. It is also considered a terrorist organization in the US and Europe. The headquarters of the PKK is in the inaccessible Kandil Mountains in northern Iraq. According to Kurdish sources, three people were killed in a Turkish drone attack in northern Iraq at the end of February.
Continued German support
Baerbock traveled to Iraq for a total of four days. In the Kurdish areas, she also wanted to visit a camp for internally displaced people who had been driven out by IS. At a meeting with her Iraqi colleague Fuad Hussein in Baghdad, the Foreign Minister had previously announced that Germany, together with Iraq and its international partners, wanted to keep up the pressure of persecution against the IS. She also referred to 4.3 billion euros in financial aid with which Germany had helped stabilize Iraq after the end of the rule of the jihadist militia since 2014.
cwo/se (dpa, afp)