The Security Apparatus of Northern Iraq: One Thousand and One Kurdish Leaders and the Allure of the East

ABSTRACT

The Northern Part of Iraq and its structures has generated considerable interest in the West in the last thirty years. This paper analyzes the creation of the security structures in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), highlighting the difficulties effected by their traditional disunity within the context of the historical periods that this article considers – the period from 1991 to 2003, 2003 to 2014, 2014 to 2017 and finally, 2017 to 2020. As for the last of the stages, this article claims that a US´s withdrawal from Iraq might change the strategy followed by the Iraqi Kurds whose identity and political structures are at stake.

RESUMEN:

La parte norte de Irak y sus estructuras han generado un considerable interés en Occidente en los últimos treinta años. Este artículo analiza la creación de estructuras de seguridad en la región del Kurdistán de Irak (KRI), destacando las dificultades efectuadas por que su desunión tradicional dentro del contexto de los períodos históricos que este artículo considera –el periodo de 1991 a 2003, de 2003 a 2014, de 2014 a 2017 y, finalmente, de 2017 a 2020.

En cuanto a la última de las etapas, este artículo afirma que la retirada de Estados Unidos de Irak podría cambiar la estrategia seguida por los kurdos iraquíes cuya identidad y estructuras políticas están en juego.

KEYWORDS:

• Security apparatus
• Iraq
• Kurds
• Kurdistan Region of Iraq
• Kurdistan Regional Government
• Peshmerga

Palabras clave:

• Aparato de seguridad
• Irak
• Kurdos
• Región del Kurdistán de Irak
• Gobierno Regional del Kurdistán
• Peshmerga

Notes

1. https://www.dw.com/en/german-army-restarts-training-iraqi-kurds-but-future-of-mission-in-doubt/a-41070521.

2. Prime Minister of the KRG between 2006 and 2009 and then from 2012 until 2019 when he became President of the KRI.

3. https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/251020173.

4. https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/39ab42af-3aee-4a87-a7cf-624601002c44.

5. https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/200920192.

6. https://ekurd.net/unknown-gunmen-attacks-puk-2019-09-21.

7. https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/a22529f2-f23b-4645-a0cc-e1fbe13979e2.

8. https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/50aaabb4-7a58-4a0d-8b0d-686f1a0abffe.

9. https://krsc.gov.krd/general-security-asayish/.

10. https://krsc.gov.krd/parastin-zanyari/.

11. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/us/politics/trump-syria-turkey-troop-withdrawal.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrés de Castro García

Andrés de Castro García is the Head of the Department of International Relations at the Catholic University of Erbil (CUE) in Northern Iraq. He earned his Ph.D. in International Security at the Instituto Universitario General Gutierrez Mellado (IUGM-UNED) in Madrid, and a Law Degree from the University of Salamanca, also in Spain. Dr. de Castro specializes in Intelligence and Security Studies.