Peshmerga

The Peshmerga (Kurdish: پێشمەرگه, romanized: Pêşmerge, lit. ''Those Who Face Death'') are the internal security forces of the Kurdistan Region. According to the Constitution of Iraq, federal regions (such as the Kurdistan Region) are responsible for "the establishment and organization of the internal security forces for the respective regions, such as police, security forces, and regional guards." The history of Kurdish armed forces dates back to antiquity, with Kurdish military forces becoming more organized between the 16th and 19th centuries, when they served Kurdish tribal leaders and principalities, as well as the Ottoman and Safavid states as auxiliary and border forces. During the 20th century, these forces developed into increasingly organized guerrilla movements associated with Kurdish nationalist movements. The modern Peshmerga emerged in 1946 as the self-declared national army of the Republic of Mahabad. In the late 20th and beginning of the 21st century, the Peshmerga became institutionalized as the armed forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The term Peshmerga has also been used for a variety of Kurdish militias and armed groups, especially in Iranian Kurdistan, such as for the armed wings of the KDPI, PAK and Komala. Formally, the Peshmerga are under the command of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs (MoPA) of the KRG. In practice, however, the Peshmerga's structure is largely divided and controlled separately by the two main Iraqi Kurdish political parties: the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Unifying and integrating the Peshmerga under the MoPA has been on the Kurdistan Region's public agenda since 1992, with significant progress under a 2022 U.S.-KRG memorandum of understanding aiming for full unification by 2026. Other security institutions of the Kurdistan Region include the Zêrevanî, Asayish, Parastin u Zanyarî, and the Kurdish police force.