KRG calls on Iraqi gov't to jointly administer disputed areas

BAGHDAD

Head of northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), Nechirvan Barzani, called on the federal government on Tuesday to jointly administer their disputed areas as a way to curb the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

"The disputed areas must be administered in partnership between the Kurdistan region [KRG] and the [Iraqi] federal government to block the way in front of any return of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group," Barzani said in a speech at the launch of the Middle East Peace and Security Forum at the American University in Duhok in northern Iraq.

Barzani said Daesh/ISIS still represents a threat in Iraqi territories despite being defeated in 2017, which requires the Iraqi government to establish stability and provide services.

The disputed areas between KRG and the Iraqi government is one of the hot and stuck topics between them, including the Kirkuk province and parts of Nineveh and Salahuddin provinces (north) and Diyala province (east).

This situation caused security gaps between the Iraqi army and the KRG forces known as Peshmerga in favor of Daesh/ISIS and other terror groups.

In 2020, Baghdad and Erbil - KRG's capital - formed joint military coordination centers to cooperate and exchange information to crack down on Daesh/ISIS remnants in the disputed areas.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara