Turkmen party calls for considering Peshmerga as 'militia'

Baghdad, 15 April 2008 (Voices of Iraq)

The head of a Turcoman party called on Monday on the Iraqi government to consider the Peshmerga fighters as militia and prevent the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) from taking part in the municipal elections in Kirkuk and Mosul as long as their militias exist in the two cities.

“We urge the government to consider the militias of the two main Kurdish parties in Mosul and Kirkuk as irregular and illegal forces,” Riyadh Sari Kehya, the head of the Turcoman party, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

“In case the government insists on the presence of Peshmerga fighters in the two cities, we demand the two parties be prevented from participating in the elections,” he added.

Peshmerga are the forces belonging to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan under President Jalal Talabani and the Kurdish Democratic Party under Kurdish President Massoud al-Barazani.

http://www.iraqupdates.com/p_articles.php/article/29875