Shafaq News / Turkmen Leader Muhammad Mahdi Al-Bayati revealed, on Tuesday, that there are agreements between the federal government and Kurdistan Regional Government over "gradual" return of the Peshmerga to Kirkuk.

Al-Bayati told Shafaq News agency that, "the governments of Iraq and Kurdistan Region has reached an agreement on the presence of Peshmerga in the joint operations room in Kirkuk, which includes security formations of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, in addition to the Peshmerga".

The member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee, Harim Agha, told Shafaq News agency, "the Peshmerga are an important part of the Iraqi security system and plays a role in the security of the common areas", adding that, "there are no legal or constitutional impediments to its presence in the disputed areas, for the article 140 of the constitution is not implemented yet".

It is noteworthy that the Peshmerga and local security forces "Asayish", withdrew from the disputed areas after the Iraqi forces and Al-Hashd launched a military operation in October 2017, after Kurdistan Region conducted an independence referendum on September 25 of the same year.

Since that withdrawal, ISIS has intensified its attacks on unsecured areas in the Diyala, Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces, taking advantage of the security void previously occupied by the Peshmerga forces.