Adding fuel to the fire? : arming the Kurds.
Date: 2015-08-17
Institutions: European Union Institute for Security Studies
Subjects: EU relations, European arms policy, European defence policy, European security, Islamic State, Kurdistan question, common security and defence policy, film production

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Adding fuel to the fire? Arming the Kurds
by Jan Joel Andersson and Florence Gaub

This  summer  marks  the  first  morbid  anniversary 
of the emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and the 
Levant (ISIL) as a proto-state entity. Following the 
group’s proclamation that it had re-established the 
Muslim caliphate, a US-led alliance was formed to 
combat the terrorist outfit. Iraq has subsequently 
seen air strikes, a change of government, and deliv-
eries of weapons to the country’s Kurds. Although 
ISIL has not been defeated, it has lost 25% of its 
territory and 20% of its troop strength. Moreover, 
its advances into Iraqi Kurdistan in particular seem 
to have been halted – but for how long?

to  fully  defeat  ISIL)  and  in  light  of  the  decent 
performance  by  the  somewhat  underequipped 
Peshmerga,  the  decision  by  European  states  to 
send weapons and ammunition to Iraqi Kurdistan 
was logical. It also had precedent: other countries 
in the region and the CIA had been delivering arms 
to  the  Kurds  for  some  time.  US  support  has,  for 
example, contributed to the establishment of eight 
Kurdish  brigades  worth  $92  million.  While  mili-
tary aid was also sent to the Iraqi army, the major-
ity  of  European  assistance  went  to  the  northern 
Kurdistan region.

In the line of fire

Lending a European hand

The  Kurdish-inhabited  parts  of  both  Iraq  and 
Syria came into ISIL’s crosshairs in the summer of 
2014.  After  the  fall  of  Mosul,  the  jihadists  began 
to  encroach  on  the  Iraqi  Kurdish  region’s  –  dis-
puted  –  borders,  only  to  clash  violently  with  the 
Peshmerga (Kurdish military forces which operate 
independently  from  the  Iraqi  army).  Battles  be-
tween the Peshmerga and ISIL in villages around 
Kirkuk and Mosul left at least 1,000 Kurdish fight-
ers dead, while ISIL lost some 3,000 men, accord-
ing to Massoud Barzani, the region’s president. In 
Syria, the Kurdish town of Kobane was placed un-
der a highly sensationalised siege by ISIL, prompt-
ing German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen 
to voice fears of an imminent genocide. 

In  the  absence  of  an  international  willingness  to 
put troops on the ground (arguably the only way 

Whether  or  not  to  send  arms  to  Kurdish  forces 
fighting ISIL is strictly a national decision. Though 
the Council of the European Union welcomed that 
individual member states will provide military aid 
to the Kurdish regional authorities in its foreign af-
fairs configuration on 15 August 2014, EU foreign 
ministers agreed that arms shipments ‘will be done 
according to the capabilities and national laws of 
the  member  states  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
Iraqi national authorities.’  

Estonia  donated  one  million  rounds  of  7.62mm 
ammunition  to  the  Kurds  in  late  August,  while 
Croatia,  the  Czech  Republic  and  Hungary  have 
all announced that will provide large quantities of 
machine guns, Kalashnikov assault rifles, recoilless 
rifles,  millions  of  rounds  of  small  arms  ammuni-
tion and thousands of hand grenades.

European Union Institute for Security Studies

July 2015

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Italy is providing 200 machine guns, 2,000 rocket 
propelled grenades and nearly one million rounds 
of  Soviet-era  ammunition.  Most  of  this  equip-
ment  was  seized  by  Italy  in  1994  from  a  vessel 
which tried to run the blockade to ship arms to 
Serbia during the wars in ex-Yugoslavia. The UK 
is reportedly offering 61 tons of weapons and am-
munition, and a small team of British soldiers is 
already in northern Iraq training the Kurds how 
to operate the L1A 12.7mm heavy machine gun. 
France has promised weapons, too, although it is 
not clear exactly what kind. Outside of the Union, 
Albania  has  sent  22  million  7.62mm  rounds, 
15,000 hand grenades and thousands of artillery 
shells.

The  largest  European  contribution  to  date  has 
been  made  by  Germany.  In  addition  its  earlier 
humanitarian  and  medical  aid,  Berlin  elected  to 
supply  large  amounts  of  military  equipment  to 
Kurdish forces in northern Iraq last August. The 
first  shipment  then  arrived  in  Erbil,  the  region’s 
capital, within weeks of the decision. Divided in 
three tranches, the German military aid package 
includes 8 million rounds of small arms ammu-
nition,  16,000  G3  and  G36  assault  rifles,  8,000 
P1 pistols, 40 MG3 machine guns, 10,000 hand 
grenades,  30  MILAN  anti-tank  guided  missile 
launchers  with  500  missiles,  200  Panzerfaust  3 
light anti-tank launchers with 2,500 rounds and 
40 Carl-Gustaf 84mm recoilless rifles with 1,000 
battlefield illumination shells. 

In addition, Germany is supplying 4,000 helmets 
and  sets  of  body  armour  and  other  equipment 
such  as  night  vision  devices,  tents,  radios,  field 
kitchens and wheeled vehicles necessary to equip 
infantry brigades. A small team of German mili-
tary advisers is also currently in northern Iraq to 
provide training on the more advanced anti-tank 
systems. 

One year later…

The  Kurds  have  successfully  prevented  ISIL 
from  advancing  into  their  territory:  however, 
the jihadists continue to collect heavy weaponry 
abandoned  by  the  Iraqi  army  elsewhere,  allow-
ing  them  to  outgun  the  Peshmerga.  Moreover, 
the main threat now seems to be political rather 
than tactical. The organisation has not only man-
aged  to  detonate  several  bombs  in  Kirkuk,  it  is 
also recruiting among Kurdish youth. At least 500 
Kurds  have  joined  the  ranks  of  the  jihadists  so 
far, and a suicide bombing perpetrated in April by 
young Kurdish man in Erbil showcased that even 
the population of Iraqi Kurdistan is not immune 
to the appeal of ISIL.

This  is  unexpected  for  two  reasons:  although 
conservative  and  Sunni  Muslim  (and  boasting 
the  highest  number  of  mosques  per  capita  in 
the world), Kurdish society is religiously moder-
ate  and  largely  nationalistic  in  outlook.  Second, 
mosques, the traditional point of recruitment for 
jihadists,  are  closely  monitored  by  the  Kurdish 
authorities. 

ISIL  evades  traditional  intelligence  mechanisms 
by  recruiting  through  personal  contacts  and  the 
internet. This, along with the fact that many Iraqi 
Arabs have relocated to the Kurdish region after 
fleeing  ISIL,  makes  the  infiltration  of  jihadists 
more likely. 

The tactical difficulties in tackling ISIL are exac-
erbated by a split in the Kurdish political leader-
ship in Iraq: the Kurdistan Democratic Party and 
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan maintain control 
over  different  parts  of  the  region  and  over  their 
respective  Peshmerga  forces.  Although  the  divi-
sion of these troops, and therefore the diluting of 
efforts to fight ISIL, has become a topic of intense 
debate  in  Erbil  over  the  last  year,  no  concrete 
steps have been taken to integrate the forces’ two 
wings.

In addition, deliveries of arms to the Kurdish re-
gion  raise  some  concerns  over  its  relations  with 
the  central  government.  Erbil  has  been  at  odds 
with Baghdad over key concerns ranging from the 
status of Kirkuk, the region’s oil fields, and, most 
importantly, the issue of potential Kurdish inde-
pendence. Since the end of the First World War, 
Kurds  have  been  scattered  over  several  adjacent 
countries (with the majority found in Iraq, Syria, 
Turkey and Iran), and many have aspired to state-
hood.  In  a  perhaps  prophetic  move,  several  US 
congressmen suggested that the Kurdish region of 
Iraq be recognised as a separate country in April 
in order to not have to clear weapons shipments 
with  Baghdad  –  a  proposal  which  was  rejected 
last month. 

Three  months  ago,  President  Barzani  reiterated 
that  the  fight  against  ISIL  has  only  delayed  the 
quest for Kurdish independence and not put an 
end to it. Although he vowed that the desired end 
state  would  not  be  achieved  by  force,  there  are 
fears that the weapons delivered today might one 
day be used to carve out the long-awaited state of 
Kurdistan.

Jan Joel Andersson and Florence Gaub are 
 Senior Analysts at the EUISS.

European Union Institute for Security Studies

July 2015

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© EU Institute for Security Studies, 2015. | QN-AL-15-037-2A-N | ISBN 978-92-9198-332-2 | ISSN 2315-1129 | DOI 10.2815/986333