Mustafa Chaw Rash, the head of the 70th Peshmerga Forces, told reporters that the arrival of Nechirvan Barzani is a good step toward resolving all problems in the Kurdistan Region and between the parties, especially between the PUK and KDP.

Yesterday Nechirvan Barzani, Kurdistan region president and deputy general secretary of the KDP, arrived in Sulaimani after months of tensions and a lack of direct communications between the two ruling parties of the region. 

He added that there are many problems between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. The parties should go to Baghdad with a united demand.
He noted, “the sooner the PUK and KDP meet, the better for the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan region’s peshmerga forces are 100 thousand strong and are commanded separately by the PUK and the KDP. The PUK peshmerga is colloquially known as the 70 forces, while the KDP’s as 80 forces. Since 2005 numerous domestic and international attempts to merge the forces to unite the region’s peshmerga forces have remained futile.