Dismayed by such actions, many in Kurdistan hope the war against IS can become an opportunity to unify the peshmerga and change the manner in which they operate.
In August 2014, the Kurdish parliament passed a resolution calling for the unification and subjecting of Division 70 and 80 forces to the peshmerga ministry's control. It set a six-month deadline for that process to be completed, but 10 months later, the objectives are far from being achieved.
"This can't be just resolved by a parliament resolution and has a lot of historical background to it and this needs negotiations between [the KDP and PUK] parties outside parliament," said Ari Harsin, chairman of the Kurdistan parliament's peshmerga affairs committee. "But the process has started and, for example, the finances of both divisions [70 and 80] are now under the control of the minister of peshmerga."
Amid an atmosphere of political distrust and slow unification, Namiq and other young men queuing up in the volunteers' registration center in Erbil could perhaps make history and become the nucleus of a united and professional Kurdish military force. The three brigades are the first Kurdish units where the recruits are not selected based on partisan loyalties.
"I'm happy these units are different," Namiq said. "Anyone like me who wants and meets the requirements can come and sign up here."
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