Inside Iraq - Peshmerga of Iraq - 29 Feb. 08 - Pt.1

The Peshmerga are hailed by most Kurds in Iraq as the military force protecting the Kurdish people.

The word Peshmerga literally means "ready to die". It alludes to the famed warrior spirit of the Kurdish fighters.

Most Peshmerga are loyal to either one of Iraq's two main Kurdish political parties - the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) or the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

The KDP, led by Massoud Barzani, and the PUK, led by Jalal Talabani, each have about 25,000 to 30,000 fighters.

These fighters have become the unofficial standing army of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

But critics - some within the Kurdish community itself - have accused certain Peshmerga commanders of abusing their military power, exploiting political contacts and amassing enormous personal wealth.

Human rights organizations, as well as independent Kurdish figures, have made allegations that the Peshmerga run prisons in which fellow Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen are routinely tortured.

Even Barham Saleh, deputy prime minister of Iraq and a Kurd himself, admitted torture was used in Kurdish prisons - an acknowledgement that was not welcomed by his boss, Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president.

The military force, represented by the Peshmerga, has taken on additional significance in the light of the ongoing conflict in the region between Turkey and the fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The Peshmerga are staying out of the conflict, avoiding any confrontation with Turkish troops and not coming to the support of the PKK.

This week, Inside Iraq will examine the role played by the Peshmerga and will investigate the charges of corruption and torture.

Our guests this week are:

Falah Mustafa Bakir, minister and head of the Department of Foreign Relations and
Freshta Raper, spokesperson for the Kurdistan National Congress.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Inside
• Iraq
• al
• jazeera
• Jasim
• Azawi
• Peshmerga
• Freshta
• Raper
• Falah
• Mustafa
• Bakir

[ATAGAYTURK]

Iraqistar4ever you biggest arab idiot but people can not blame you because you are arab:-)

mother fucker it was your coward dead arab leader who go caught in the hole like a rat and got fucked.. kurds have and will fuck you forever

fuck 3er aq

long live kurdistan

[shwanKuRD1]

love kurdistan....oh yeah forever kurds long live kurdistan

[44Malatya44serkan]

fuck arabs fuckiraq

[DanialKurdistani]

long life kurdistan death for iraq 

[mydownfallX]

THIS IS M,Y TEACHER

[xSouthxKURDISTAN]

Fuck IRAQ Death To IRAQ, there is NO IRAQ in Kurdistan IRaq ended 2003

[TheAzadd]

@ModerSverige f**k dirty arabs rats every body hate dirty arabs rats & kill dirty arabs lol,

israeli kill dirty arabs & f**k dirty arabs lol

f**k arabs

[delshad82]

the last person in this world that should talk about corruption, tortures and human rights, is this douche bag Arab, just take a look over all 27 Arab countries and you'll get the picture. What a joke this reporter is, this report is just a smear campaign, coz it's eating them alive that kurds are half away from getting their independence.

[Rastaqina]

پێشمه‌رگه‌ هێزی ڕاستی کوردستانه‌ ئێمه‌ پێویستیمان به‌ شۆڕشی عقله‌ له‌م زه‌مه‌نه‌دا

ڕاسته‌قینه‌ کار به‌ زانست و ڕه‌وشت

،،،،،،،،

،،،

،،

[diakoali2004]

Trifey be terbet le londen banishtwe u zemy xoy ekat bo dwjmnekey.