ERBIL (Sputnik) — Dizayee said that after the war with Daesh Peshmerga will be reformed. The autonomous region's government plans "to develop it, to train it, to equip it in order to be a capable defensive force for any future threat by terrorist organizations."
To achieve the goal of militia's modernization, Dizayee said, the Kurdish authorities are planning to turn to the international community to get weapons and training.
"Under the present circumstances, unfortunately, that kind of program has been limited, because sometimes Baghdad has been preventing this," Dizayee. "But when Kurdistan is a sovereign state, yes, Kurdistan will be entitled to enter contracts for training, to purchase weapons, to modernize its military forces."
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 run by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
Kurdistan is preparing for the referendum on independence, which is scheduled for September 25. The referendum will be held throughout Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as on disputed territory, such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which was liberated from Daesh by Peshmerga forces after Iraqi forces fled the city in 2014.
