Germany to set up Peshmerga training camps in Erbil

By Zana Shino

DUSSELDORF, Germany – Germany is planning four military training camps in the Kurdistan Region as part of a wider cooperation with the Kurdish army to degrade Islamic State (IS/ISIS) capabilities, a source with the German military told Rudaw.

“At the moment we are training 10 Peshmerga soldiers here in Germany for specific combat missions, including confronting military bulletproof vehicles,” Gerhard Horstmann of the German Army said. He added it was part of an overall German aid package to Kurdistan which would expand over several other areas, but gave no other details.

The German defense and foreign ministries are planning to send a joint early delegation to Kurdistan to study the military capabilities at the site, the German Deutsche Zeitungen daily reported earlier.    

Up to 300 military advisors and experts will, according to the paper, be based in the training camp, providing Peshmerga troops with “specific military training.”

Earlier, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced the military base will be established in Erbil, without revealing the number of German personnel taking part.

Under German laws the government is allowed to deploy military personnel oversees without the approval of the parliament, if the troops are not engaged in direct military combat.