Iraqi border guards on the Iraq-Iran border, November 29, 2022.
photo: KurdSat English/ Omar Gharib
Border Guard’s First Zone Spokesperson Karwan Khoshnaw told KurdSat English that the recruitment for the border guards is only for Iraqi citizens living in the Kurdistan region, with applications forms being online soon.
Earlier this week an online application form was open for people willing to serve in the Iraqi Border Guard Force, the guard’s website had crashed due to a rush of visitors, and a new application form would be launched soon, per the spokesperson. Last Tuesday, Iraqi Interior Ministry launched the application form but later removed it.
Earlier, Karwan Khoshnaw told KurdSat English there is a 12,000km-long border of Kurdistan region with Iran and Turkey, but had not recruited anyone for several years.
Following intense Iranian and Turkish bombardments on the Kurdistan region, the Iraqi government, after talks with Iranian and Turkish governments decided to deploy Baghdad controlled Iraqi border guards in the Kurdistan region to create a buffer zone between Kurdish opposition groups based in the Kurdistan region and neighboring Iran and Turkey.
Although, Iraqi border guards were already positioned in the borders of the Kurdistan region, the current plan aims to increase their number to denied the groups contact with Iranian and Turkish borders, and reduce Turkish and Iranian incursions into the Iraqi federal region.