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At an emergency meeting of the EU on Friday saw EU ministers agree to provide arms to Iraqi Kurd fighters being overwhelmed by extremists from the Islamic State (IS).
Ministers gathered in Brussels in a rear summer meeting, facing calls to stop what Germany has called as a slaughter of civilians.
“Iraq is on the brink of a true catastrophe. A million people in Iraq are fleeing their homes.In northern Iraq, in the Kurdish part, Yazidis and Christians are being persecuted and slaughtered”, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s Foreign Minister said.
The meeting was called by Italy and France, who said that the situation in Iraq requires urgent attention.
The ministers said that they welcomed “the decision by individual member states to respond positively to the call by the Kurdish regional authorities to provide urgently military material”.
“Such responses will be done according to the capabilities and national laws of the member states, and with the consent of the Iraqi national authorities”, the said in a statement.
France has already started supplying weapons to Iraq, with Britain also ready to provide weapons. However, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that an EU-wide response was crucial to resolve the crisis.
Matters of defense are strictly under the confines of member states and EU approval of members sending arms to a warzone is rare.
EU governments are concerned by the IS’ rapid growth and ability to attract radicals from the West, who then return home battle-hardened.
Ahead of the meeting, support for a strong message that backed Iraqi Kurds was growing, with member states like Germany, who have lesser historical precedent of supporting military ventures abroad.
“We have found a common position, the spirit of which says the EU commends the fact that certain countries have responded favorably to the request made by Kurdish Iraqi forces”, Steinmeier said.