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Kurdish Militias Share No Credit in Anti-Daesh Fight – Iraqi Vice President

© REUTERS / Azad LashkariKurdish Peshmerga forces keep watch in a village east of Mosul, Iraq, May 29, 2016.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces keep watch in a village east of Mosul, Iraq, May 29, 2016. - Sputnik International
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The Iraqi vice president said that the Kurdish peshmerga militias played no role in the fight against Daesh.

Iraqi Kurdish girls carry a Kurdistan flag during the celebration of Flag Day in the northern city of Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq - Sputnik International
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BAGHDAD (Sputnik) — The Kurdish peshmerga militias played no role in the fight against Daesh, Iraqi Vice President Nouri Maliki told Sputnik.

"Masoud Barzani [Iraqi Kurdistan president] is a dreamer … The official state borders are drawn in blood, he knows peshmerga did not play any role in the fight against the IS [Daesh], that [Kurdish capital] Erbil would have been given up to IS [Daesh] if it were not for the help of Iraqi, Iranian and US aviation. They have no real force," Maliki said.

The official added that Kurdistan couldn't become an independent state, the region wouldn't be able to secede even if the referendum on the issue took place.

"Kurdistan cannot become an independent state from the point of view of the law or from the point of view of the constitution. The Kurds determined their fate when they voted for the constitution and decided that Iraq is a federative state. They do not have the right to determine their fate every day … A referendum on independence may take place, but Kurdistan will be unable to secede," Maliki said.

Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani speaks to journalists on December 21, 2014 during a visit to Mount Sinjar, west of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. - Sputnik International
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The Kurds, making up about 20 percent of the Iraqi population, have been seeking self-governance for decades. In 2005, Iraq’s Constitution recognized Kurdistan as an autonomous region that was run by the KRG.

Since then, Kurdistan’s authorities have repeatedly raised the issue of the region’s independence and on June 7, they announced that a referendum on the issue would be held on September 25.

Responding to the move, Iraqi government spokesman Saad Hadithi said that Baghdad would not back any unilateral steps taken by Iraqi Kurdistan aimed at gaining independence, as such moves would violate the country's constitution.

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