Editing Peshmerga (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Peshmerga}}

The Kurdish warrior tradition of rebellion has existed for thousands of years along with aspirations for independence, and early Kurdish warriors fought against the various Persian empires, the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[British Empire]].<ref name="Lortz2015" /><ref>S. R. Valentine, ''Peshmerga: Those Who Face Death'', KDP, 2018, see the introduction and chapter one.</ref>

Historically the Peshmerga existed only as guerrilla organizations, but under the self-declared [[Republic of Mahabad]] (1946–1947), the Peshmerga led by [[Mustafa Barzani]] became the official army of the republic.<ref name="first mahabad source">{{cite web |first=Mufid |last=Abdulla |title=Mahabad – the first independent Kurdish republic |url=http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/mahabad-first-independent-kurdish-republic/ |work=The Kurdistan Tribune |date=12 June 2011 |access-date=14 February 2015 |archive-date=May 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528231328/http://kurdistantribune.com/2011/mahabad-first-independent-kurdish-republic/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ma barzani" /> After the fall of the republic and the execution of head of state [[Qazi Muhammad]], Peshmerga forces reemerged as guerrilla organizations that would go on to fight the [[Iran]]ian and [[Iraq]]i governments for the remainder of the century.<ref>{{cite book |first=Susan |last=Meiselas |title=Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History |edition=2nd |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-226-51928-9}}</ref>

In Iraq, most of these Peshmerga were led by [[Mustafa Barzani]] of the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party]].<ref name="ma barzani">{{cite web |title=President |url=http://www.krgspain.org/government/profiles/english-president/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140730010255/http://www.krgspain.org/government/profiles/english-president/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=July 30, 2014 |work=[[Kurdistan Regional Government]] Representation in Spain |date=2015 |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref> In 1975 the Peshmerga were defeated in the [[Second Iraqi–Kurdish War]]. [[Jalal Talabani]], a leading member of the KDP, left the same year to revitalize the resistance and founded the [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan]]. This event created the baseline for the political discontent between the KDP and PUK that  divides Peshmerga forces and much of Kurdish society in Kurdistan.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/3011925|title=The Kurds between Iran and Iraq|author=van Bruinessen, Martin|year=1986|journal=MERIP Middle East Report|issue=141|pages=14–27|doi=10.2307/3011925|jstor=3011925 | issn=0888-0328|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2017/05/getting-peshmerga-reform-right-helping-iraqi-kurds-help-post-isis-iraq/|title=Getting Peshmerga Reform Right: Helping the Iraqi Kurds to Help Themselves in Post-ISIS Iraq – Foreign Policy Research Institute|website=www.fpri.org}}</ref>

After Mustafa Barzani's death in 1979, his son [[Masoud Barzani]] took his position.<ref name="ma barzani" /> As tension increased between KDP and PUK, most Peshmerga fought to keep a region under their own party's control while also fighting off Iraqi Army incursions. Following the [[Iran–Iraq War|First Persian Gulf War]], Iraqi Kurdistan saw the [[Kurdish Civil War]] between the two major parties, the KDP and the PUK, and Peshmerga forces were used to fight each other.<ref>S. R. Valentine, Peshmerga: Those Who Face Death, KDP, 2018, chapter six.</ref> The civil war officially ended in September 1998 when Barzani and Talabani signed the Washington Agreement establishing a formal peace treaty.<ref>{{cite web |first=Frman |last=Abdulrahman |title=Never-ending mystery: what really happened to Kurdish civil war missing |url=http://www.niqash.org/articles/?id=3000 |work=niqash |date=23 February 2012 |access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> In the agreement, the parties agreed to share revenue and power, deny the use of northern Iraq to the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK), and not allow Iraqi troops into the Kurdish regions. By then, around 5,000 had been killed on both sides, and many more had been evicted for being on the wrong side.<ref>{{cite web |first=Charles |last=McDermid |title=New force emerges in Kirkuk |url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LB20Ak02.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222221442/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LB20Ak02.html |url-status=unfit |archive-date=22 February 2010 |work=[[Asia Times Online]] |date=20 February 2010 |access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> In the years after, tension remained high, but both parties moved towards each other, and in 2003 they both took part in the [[2003 invasion of Iraq|overthrowing of the Baathist regime]] as part of the [[Iraq War]]. Unlike other militia forces, the Peshmerga were never prohibited by Iraqi law.<ref name=WhoPeshmerga>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28738975 Profile: Who are the Peshmerga?] BBC News. Retrieved 19 December 2014.</ref>
[[File:Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighter in the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in 2003.jpg|thumb|Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter (KDP) in 2003.]] In 2014, the Peshmerga withdrew from the [[Nineveh Plains]], which was said by the locals as being a contributing factor of the quick [[Islamic State]] victory in the invasion, and [[Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL|the widespread massacre]] of [[Yazidis]], who were rendered defenseless.<ref>{{cite web|last=van den Toorn|first=Christine|date=August 17, 2014|title=How the U.S.-Favored Kurds Abandoned the Yazidis when ISIS Attacked|url=https://auis.edu.krd/iris/staff-publications/how-us-favored-kurds-abandoned-yazidis-when-isis-attacked|access-date=June 27, 2020|website=Institute of Regional & International Studies|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627185938/https://auis.edu.krd/iris/staff-publications/how-us-favored-kurds-abandoned-yazidis-when-isis-attacked|url-status=dead}}</ref>