Estonia gives Kurds a million cartridges

Photo: AFP/SCANPIX

To support Iraqi Kurds in their fight against the violently militant Islamic State, Estonia donates one million machine gun cartridges made for weapons of Soviet origin.

«The ammunition in question was acquired in 1993–1995. For Estonian Defence Forces using NATO standard ammunition, these cartridges do not fit,» explained Peeter Tali, public relations head at defence ministry.

According to Mr Tali, Estonia’s decision to support Kurdistan defence forces is based on EU foreign affairs guideline of August 15^th as facilitating assistance with weapons in answer to Kurdistan regional government, and not humanitarian aid only.

«Estonia strictly condemns the Islamic State violence in Iraq and the subsequent massive violations of human rights,» continued Mr Tali.

«Islamic State endangers security and stability of the entire region. Iraqi armed forces and the Kurdistan security forces within their ranks, the pesh merga, are attempting to halt the advance of the extremists,» he added.

According to Mr Tali, the USA, the UK, Canada, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, France and Croatia also stand ready to provide arms assistance. 

Estonian help weighs almost 28 tonnes and rests on 29  europallets. The cartridges will be taken to Kurds by allied military air transport.

«This is not the first time Estonia has supported the armed forces of developing countries in the name of global security,» underlined Mr Tali. «In 2005, Estonia supported Iraqi armed forces by 2,400 automatic firearms and a large amount of ammunition (2.7 million cartridges). In 2007, Estonia donated 4,000 Kalashnikov rifles to Afghani armed forces, with 4.6 million cartridges.»

Last week, foreign ministry announced Estonian aid towards alleviating the current humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq. To that end, the foreign ministry allocated the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) €70,000.