Iraqi PM urges KRG forces not to advance

BAGHDAD

Iraqi PM al-Maliki (L) talks with President Talabani over Baghdad and the KRG. AFP photo

Iraq’s prime minister warned the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security forces not to advance toward government troop positions in the south, a military spokesman said yesterday after deadly clashes in a flashpoint northern town.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office warned the KRG forces, known as peshmerga, “not to change their positions or approach the [federal] armed forces,” Iraqi military spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakil said in a message received by Agence France-Presse. The warning was an apparent response to the deployment of thousands of troops from the KRG as reinforcements to the disputed town of Tuz Khurmatu, though many of them were subsequently withdrawn, a high-ranking Kurdish officer said.

Tensions between Baghdad and the KRG have been running high since the establishment of a new military command covering disputed territory, and over various other long-running issues.

Meanwhile, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the strong bilateral relations between Turkey and Iraq were essential and beneficial in reinforcing peace in the region, while receiving Turkish Ambassador to Baghdad Yunus Demirer on Nov. 18.