Barzani said that in order to prevent smugglers from bringing people into the Region illegally, the government ordered a unit of Peshmerga into the strategic area that straddles Erbil and Sulaimani governorates, which are politically dominated by Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK respectively, NRT reported.
Although partners in the current KRG Council of Ministers, the two parties are historic rivals and fought a bloody civil war against one another in the 1990s.
The unit first ordered into the area is controlled by the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, but is part of a brigade led by a member of the KDP. A few days after it arrived in Zini Warte, a unit of PUK Peshmerga moved into the area to observe.
In his statement on Friday, Barzani criticized the PUK for moving additional units into the area without directly naming it.
“We expected support from the other parties of the government. Unfortunately, a particular group purposely and with a political aim moved its forces opposite to the government’s forces and stood against the government, alleging that this border belongs to a particular party and that the government cannot place its joint forces there,” Barzani said.
“They have started to make false accusations and mixing unrelated and inappropriate matters,” he added.
Barzani warned the PUK against keeping its forces in the area and called on the Region’s parties “not to mix the government’s decisions with partisan decisions and not to make imposing the rule of law into a political conflict.”
For its part, the PUK on Thursday called on Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani to order all forces to withdraw and have security in the area overseen by Asayish units controlled by the interior ministry.
The Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) has also called for calm and urging President Barzani to intervene.
The situation grew even more complicated in early April when the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) sent a group of fighters into the area as well to observe developments. The group controls territory nearby in the Qandil Mountains.
On Wednesday, Turkish warplanes conducted airstrikes on the PKK camp, which was located just a few hundred meters from the ministry and PUK units.
The PKK-affiliated Kurdistan Communities Union later accused the KDP of passing intelligence to Turkey ahead of the strike.
Reporter's code: 50101