“Abadi once again could not play role of the country’s Prime Minister and sidelined the role of Peshmerga heroes,” the Peshmerga Ministry said in a statement.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Abadi hailed the victory against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq referring to Hashid al-Shaabi and other Iraqi armed forces as victorious without mentioning Peshmerga.

“Abadi again could not hide the hatred he has for the Peshmerga,” the statement by Peshmerga Ministry read, accusing Iraqi Prime Minister of ignoring the families of 1,824 fallen Peshmerga who fought against the militant group.

“What is he [Abadi] going to say to the children and families of 1,824 martyred and over 10,000 wounded Peshmerga that he considers himself as their Prime Minister,” the statement continued.

The Peshmerga Ministry said Abadi’s speech hinders efforts to secure a suitable ground for dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad whose relations hit lowest after Kurdish independence referendum.

According to NRT the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reacted with opposition to denote December 10 as a national holiday to be celebrated every year for the victory against IS, as suggested by Abadi.

“Sunday, December 10th, 2017 is not a holiday in the Kurdistan Region,” the KRG said in a post on Twitter.

At a meeting of his Dawa party on Wednesday, Abadi said, "To have maintained Iraqi unity and prevented the crime of partition is a victory as great as that against Daesh (IS)."

Kurds in the region interpreted his speech as an accusation of "hatred" of the Kurds saying he compared their September independence referendum to acts by the Islamic State group.

The Peshmerga Ministry said in a statement that it "regretted" Abadi's comments.

Reporter’s code: 50101