Security Forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (Bibliotheca Iranica Kurdish Studies)

Since 1991 the Kurdistan Region has enjoyed autonomy within Iraq. Despite upheavals and setbacks, the Kurds of northern Iraq have established viable government institutions including legally constituted legislative, executive, judiciary, and security entities. These structures were the only state elements in Iraq to remain intact after the 2003 U.S. invasion, and have continued to develop during the intervening years. Their existence and authority were ratified on an interim basis by the Transitional Administrative Law and permanently by the terms of the 2005 Constitution on Iraq.

This book examines in depth the organization, administration, command structure, legal basis, legitimacy, and other key features of the security sector of the Kurdistan Regional Government Iraq, to include military forces (Peshmerga), police, security agencies (Asayish), intelligence services (Parastin and Dezgay Zenyari), paramilitary security services (Zerivani), as well as the Judiciary and penal systems. The book also examines the relationship between the Kurdistan Region security apparatus and that of the Government of Iraq, both within and without the borders of the Kurdistan Region.