ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani met with Germany’s defense minister on Tuesday, discussing continued support for the Peshmerga. In the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, PM Barzani discussed military coordination between Germany and the Region in the fight against radical groups. Barzani visited Germany at the invitation of the German government and met with German officials on Monday, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. The strengthening of the KRG's position in Iraq and a negotiated resolution to the Erbil-Baghdad deadlock have been stressed in all the meetings with German officials, Safin Dizayee, KRG spokesperson who accompanied Barzani along with Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, told Rudaw. In Baghdad on Tuesday, Iraq's Defense Minister Irfan Hayali met with Cyrill Nunn, Germany's ambassador to Iraq. They discussed strengthening ties between their two governments and continued military assistance to Iraq in terms of training in the post-ISIS phase. Germany's new parliament last week voted to continue training Peshmerga through April 2018, allocating €6.9 million for the program. Up to 150 German soldiers train the Kurdish forces. They have trained more than 16,000 Peshmerga since February 2015 as a member of the US-led Global Coalition to defeat ISIS. The trip to Berlin is the second foreign tour for PM Barzani since relations between the Iraqi and Kurdish governments deteriorated after Kurdistan voted for independence, despite Iraqi opposition. The KRG delegation visited Paris earlier this month and has been invited to London, though no date has been set yet.
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