The European community is discussing the results of the EU-Turkey summit, which was aimed at a long-term resolution of the migration crisis and stabilization of the situation over the Middle East refugees in Europe. Meanwhile, information on the fact that terrorists are using arms made in the West has been received from the anti-terrorist struggle front. At the end of 2015, the German media began to publish information that some of the arms provided to the Kurdish units of the Peshmerga by the German government, turned out to be used by Daesh terrorists. Initially the information was spread by the German TV-channel ARD. Its journalists saw arms made in Germany being sold in the illegal arms markets of Northern Iraq. The international human rights organization Amnesty International also presented photo and video evidence of these facts. In the context of spreading such news, Berlin demanded explanations from the government of the Kurdish autonomy.
According to Kurdish military men and their report for Berlin, some of the German arms were captured by terrorists. This fact could be understood, as such things happen on battlefields all the time; but the next statement by the Kurds is alarming: some of the arms are being sold on black markets to pay for tickets to Europe. Thus, we have a paradoxical situation: the Germans provide the Peshmerga with arms and help the Iraqi Kurds to fight Daesh to reduce the number of refugees; at the same time, some of the arms are sold to terrorists by the Kurds to get money to escape the country and the war to… Europe.
The report of the Iraqi Kurdish government says that only 88 items from 28 thousand weapons of G3, G36, and P-1 types were lost. Half of them were lost during battles against terrorists; 17 were sold by some soldiers of the Peshmerga on the black market (10 Kurdish soldiers were arrested for this). As for the rest, 16 rifles and guns, the Kurdish government didn’t present information on them. Considering the fact that the number of arms is rather small, the Berlin authorities aren't making a drama out of the situation. According to representatives of the federal government, there is no systematic reselling of arms. Moreover, Berlin states that second-hand dealers of arms (including Daesh terrorists) have no ammunition to use the arms made in Germany. Thus, the German side believes that the terrorists can use the arms only for propaganda purposes, shooting videos with them, for example.
However, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that it is not confirmed that the report by the Iraqi Kurdish government considers all the cases of German arms being lost. The statistics were provided by the Kurds, who are interested in further supplies of German arms. Who can check how many items belong to the Peshmerga now and how many of the 28 thousand items have been sold? The Spiegel internet portal notes that it is very difficult to follow the fate of the supplied arms. At the same time, according to German military instructors who are working in Iraqi Kurdistan, indignation is rising among Peshmerga soldiers: due to the disastrous financial situation in the autonomy, soldiers haven’t received their salaries since autumn 2015. The military instructors believe that, in this context, cases of contraband and desertion are quite understandable.
Furthermore, it is difficult to agree with the German government that the terrorists have no ammunition – for two reasons at least. Firstly, it is easy to count the number of rifles and guns given to the Peshmerga command, but it is very difficult to count the number of empty cartridges. These are not military exercises, but continuous real and intensive military activities. And it is much easier to ‘write off’ ammunition in such conditions. Secondly, the terrorists of Daesh, who buy German rifles and guns on the black market, understand perfectly that they cannot use them without ammunition. Thus, obviously, they buy ammunition as well; otherwise, there is no sense in such a deal.
The opposition German factions in Bundestag – the Lefts and the Greens – heavily criticized the exports of arms to the Iraqi Kurds in due time. According to them, the growth of the number of arms in the region where a war is taking place will worsen the conflict. The head of the Greens faction on the Defense Committee of the Bundestag, Agnieszka Brugger, stated in early January that no one checked whether the Peshmerga had fulfilled their commitments on securing the arms or not. “If the government dares to use such a dangerous security political instrument, i.e. supplies of arms, it must take the responsibility for what is happening with the arms, considering such a great risk of selling the arms to terrorists.”
