Germany to train Sunni soldiers in Iraq to fight ISIS says Chancellor Merkel

(IraqiNews.com) On Saturday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared her country’s readiness to contribute to the training of Sunni soldiers in Iraq to fight the so-called Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), praising the efforts the Iraqi government is making in order to improve national unity. She believed ISIS wouldn’t have gotten this number of followers if Sunnis were not treated unfairly by the previous government in Baghdad.

Merkel stated during her visit to a church in the town of Templin in eastern Germany, “we will examine training Sunni soldiers and not only Kurds if required,” adding, “we are now doing our best to strengthen the state structure in Iraq.”

Merkel said, “ISIS wouldn’t have gotten this amount of followers if Sunnis were not treated so unfairly by the previous government in Baghdad,” praising “the Iraqi government’s efforts to set a Sunni minister of defense as well as Shiites and Kurds in the context of Prime Minister Haider Abadi’s efforts to improve national unity and ease the grip of ISIS fighters on the Sunni areas in north and west of the country. “