UKH Completes English Course for Peshmerga with British Support

The University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) on Sunday, March 10 concluded an 100-hour English language course for peshmerga forces with support of the British Consulate General Erbi

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UKH Completes English Course for Peshmerga with British Support
Wladimir van Wilgenburg
March 12, 2024

The University of Kurdistan Hewlêr (UKH) on Sunday, March 10 concluded an 100-hour English language course for peshmerga forces with support of the British Consulate General Erbil  (BCGE) and the Directorate of Reform of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs (MoPA). 

Eighteen officers of different ranks participated in the course, which was launched in November 2023, the UKH said. The training course was organized for the third year in a row.

“We are glad that for the third year in a row we are accomplishing this unique achievement. Delivering English language courses to peshmerga heroes is a huge source of pride for UKH. It also indicates the quality of teaching at UKH, as we’ve been doing this for three years now,” Karokh Nuraddin, the UKH’s Director of Media Public Relations and Communications, told Kurdistan Chronicle.

“Working with MoPA and BCGE reflects our commitment and dedication to providing the highest quality of education and service to the community in cooperation with local and foreign institutions and expertise”

The closing ceremony was attended by UKH President Bill Rammell; Major General Nabaz Salah Sedeeq, Director of the Directorate of Reform; Brigadier General Sahdulla Ramadhan Aziz, Director of Peshmerga Language Centre; and Wing Commander Dan Roberts, Military Advisor to the BCGE.

“The UK is proud to support the Peshmerga. Yesterday's closing ceremony celebrated the successful completion of a program dedicated to improving the English language skills of Peshmerga officers. Congratulations to all who participated in the course,” the British Consulate General Erbil posted on X on March 11.

The UK has been supporting Iraqi, including Kurdish peshmerga armed forces, in the fight against ISIS since 2014.

Furthermore, the UK, the Netherlands, the United States, and Germany are members of the Multi-National Advisory Group (MNAG), established to bolster the peshmerga reform project, aiming to enhance unity and capability within the Peshmerga forces.

As a result, the UK has a defense adviser stationed in Erbil, alongside the special defense adviser to the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs, both operating under the support of the BSGE for this project.

Leo Docherty, UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on February 7 in a debate on the Kurdistan Region in the House of Commons, said that the UK “have worked with the peshmerga to help it to tackle the threat from ISIS and build its institutional capacity.”

Additionally, he said it is important that the UK trained more than 20,000 peshmerga in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI).

“The UK, alongside the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, continues to support and advise the KRI’s Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs on its reform agenda. That agenda and the generation of an apolitical peshmerga are important and visible symbols of Kurdish unity,” he concluded.

Moreover, peshmerga and Iraqi military officers also participate in officer training within the UK, including places such as the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.

On January 21, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited cadets at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, expressing his pride at their achievements. 


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