Iraqi Minorities Press to Set Up Militias to Defend Themselves

Iraqi minority groups are pressing to set up militias to defend themselves against extremist group Islamic State, but complain they face resistance from a central government fearful that this would inflame separatist sentiments.

The militias would be part of a U.S.-backed plan for a national guard. Members of these ethnic and religious minorities said they would wait until the government passes legislation setting up the force so as not to add to the country's chaos.

Syrian Kurds on a hill watch clashes between
Islamic State and Kurdish fighters near Turkey
on Sunday. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The minorities behind the push—particularly Yazidis, Turkmen and Christians—have borne the brunt the rapid advance of Islamic State, while the Iraqi military has failure to confront the Sunni insurgents. Their minority groups' appeals to set up their own militias to defend themselves are growing louder.

Fanning fears of leaders in Baghdad, Christians are pressing for their own semiautonomous region in northern Iraq, much like the one the larger Kurdish minority group already has. The Yazidis already have an active militia that has been battling Islamic State militants for months.

Turkmen in northern Iraq on June 16.

"There is a fear of dividing the country due to demands made by different groups in Iraq," said Ghassan al-Husseini, an adviser to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. "We believe that all minorities have the right to defend themselves, especially in their own areas. But we also believe it should not be away from the government."

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Mr. Abadi and other officials acknowledge that given the Iraqi military's advanced state of disrepair, small ethnic and religious groups should be allowed to fight back and, in some cases, with close government supervision, receive arms and training from the state.

But the same officials worry that these calls to arms will lead to calls for autonomy and may end up wresting political authority from Baghdad in a country already on the brink of splitting apart.

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