Parliamentary power: Kurds did not provide a convincing justification for non-commitment to pay oil money

yota691 · October 4, 2017

The salaries of the Kurdistan region in return for the delivery of oil revenues and border crossings to Baghdad

04-10-2017 02:23 PM

Readers

image.php?token=1484a6f94d774be0eba1620f04702925&size=

Baghdad News -

A spokesman for Prime Minister Saad al-Hadithi's media office said on Wednesday that the KRG's recognition of the sovereign federal government's right to control oil revenues and border crossings would secure the salaries of all regional employees, including the Peshmerga.

Al-Hadithi said in a press statement that "I have no information on the issue of securing the salaries of the region, in return for the delivery of oil revenues and border crossings to Baghdad, during the visit of the Kurdish delegation negotiating to the capital and meeting with Prime Minister Haider Abadi."

He added that 'our position on the national wealth is clear and stress the need to return to the public treasury of the country, to take over the federal government to distribute and secure the salaries of all employees throughout Iraq'.

He explained, 'The province stopped the export of oil, for the benefit of the federal government. In contrast, a share of the federal budget has been suspended, amounting to 17%, while the government of Kurdistan distributed the salaries of the staff of the region, but it was later incapacitated, so we say now that the return of oil imports from the fields of Kurdistan and Kirkuk, and border crossings to Baghdad, will facilitate the payment of salaries of employees of Kurdistan on a regular basis '.

He stressed that 'the proceeds obtained from customs, and the export of oil, will be a way to provide a financial cover, the federal government, through which it can secure the salaries of employees of Kurdistan, including Peshmerga'.

He pointed out that 'the census of the employees of Kurdistan, to know their real numbers, at this time, an action premature, we will go into details later', stressing that 'what is done by the federal government is in the interest of the Kurdish citizens, and will not harm them.'

yota691 · October 4, 2017

Mr. Ammar al-Hakim: the need to resort to legal and constitutional frameworks to solve the problems between Baghdad and Erbil

Release Date: 2017/10/4 15:01 • 2 times read

yota691 · October 4, 2017

US ambassador renews from Basra his country's rejection of the referendum of Kurdistan and calls for adherence to the Constitution

Release date: 2017/10/4 13:38 • 88 times read

(Basra: Euphrates News) The US ambassador in Iraq, Duclos Sulaiman, on Wednesday, the position of Baladah rejecting the referendum in the Kurdistan region, while calling on all parties to restraint and dialogue and the adoption of the Constitution.

"The position of our country is fixed, which is the rejection of the referendum in the Kurdistan region, and it was possible for the Kurds to take a different path and a path of dialogue," Suleiman said during a press conference held at the Diwan of Basra province.
"We advise all parties on the current crisis to be calm, restrained and not to resort to violence or confrontational measures," he said.
"We believe that the best way to tackle the difficult issues is to have a democratic dialogue based on the adoption of the Constitution," he said, noting that this is what the United States is pushing for.

yota691 · October 4, 2017

Putin: It is not in the interests of anyone to cut oil supplies from Kurdistan

Wednesday, October 4,

yota691 · October 4, 2017

Putin: cutting economic relations with the Kurdistan Region is not in the interest of anyone

By Rudao 2 hours ago

RODAO, ARBIL -

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday, October 4, 2017, that the severance of economic relations with the Kurdistan Region is not in the interest of anyone.

Putin said during his speech at the plenary session of the Forum "Russian Energy Week" that "we have close historical relations with the Kurds," noting that "the oil embargo against Kurdistan will lead to high oil prices in the world, which may not all desire."

Putin pointed out that "Moscow does not interfere in the issue of Kurdistan, and the actions of Russia aimed at not ignite the situation."

The Russian president stressed that "Moscow does not provoke anyone, we have good relations with the Kurds, and try to call for dialogue," stressing that "we do not provoke any party, and do not pay anyone to anything, we do not interfere in these operations."

"Therefore, our statements are very cautious and are not geared to the crisis, but to correct the situation, and aim to find a way to communicate even in the most difficult situations of conflict, and cooperate to find options acceptable to all."

nannab · October 4, 2017

Putin: No we do what we want when we want.

Butifldrm · October 4, 2017

"Central Iraq" eases financial restrictions on the "Kurdistan"

The decision of the Iraqi Central came after receiving pledges from the Kurdish banks to cooperate

04 October 2017 02:54 PM

Direct: A source in the Iraqi banking sector, the Central Bank of Iraq eased financial restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region, in response to the referendum held by the province for the separation from the state , according to (Reuters)

The source said, according to "Reuters", that the Central Bank received a pledge of cooperation from Kurdish banks, adding that the resumption of transfers of dollars and foreign currency on Wednesday, with the exception of four banks owned by the Kurdish .

The Iraqi Central Bank on Tuesday notified the Kurdistan Regional Government to stop the sale and transfer of foreign currency to themain Kurdish banks and the number of 4 banks.

The Iraqi parliament voted yesterday to stop all financial and banking transactions with the Kurdistan region .

The Central Bank of Iraq eases the banking restrictions on the Kurdistan Region

economy

From 2017-10-04 at 13:28 (Baghdad time)

%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%83-%D8%A7%D9

Baghdad - Mawazine News

A source in the banking sector in Iraq, Wednesday, that the central bank eased financial restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region after receiving a pledge of cooperation from Kurdish banks.

Reuters quoted the source as saying that it was allowed to resume transfers of dollars and foreign currency, on Wednesday morning, with the exception of four banks owned by Kurdish.

The Iraqi Central Bank has notified the Kurdistan Regional Government on Tuesday that it will stop selling the dollar to the four Kurdish banks and stop all

foreign currency transfers to the region.

Such measures had been taken in response to the referendum held by the Territory on 25 September last year, in which it had voted in favor of independence

http://www.mawazin.net/البنك-المركزي-العراقي-يخفف-القيود-البنكية-على-إقليم-كردستان/اقتصادية

The Englishman · October 4, 2017

OCTOBER 4, 2017 / 11:57 AM / UPDATED 21 MINUTES AGO

Iraq eases financial restrictions on Kurdistan region, in first sign of de-escalation

Ahmed Rasheed

3 MIN READ

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq’s central bank on Wednesday eased financial restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region over its independence vote after receiving a pledge of cooperation from Kurdish banks, an Iraqi banking source said.

All but four Kurdish-owned banks were allowed to send and receive dollar and foreign currency transfers on Wednesday, the source told Reuters.

It is the first de-escalation measure in the crisis, which erupted after voters in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq overwhelmingly backed independence in a Sept. 25 referendum.

The Iraqi government has also imposed a ban on direct international flights to and from the Kurdish region.

The central bank had informed the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Tuesday it would stop selling dollars to the four Kurdish banks, and would halt all foreign currency transfers to the autonomous region, banking and government sources told Reuters.

The measures are aimed at tightening the central bank’s control over the Kurdish banking industry.

The central bank will maintain its dollar sale ban for four of the Kurdish banks pending a review of their cooperation, the banking source said.

“The dollar sale prohibition will be lifted if the central bank sees that the four banks are really cooperating in disclosing their financial transactions,” the source said.

Two foreign exchange counters in the KRG capital Erbil said the dollar rate was unchanged on Wednesday from the previous day.

Businessmen in Erbil had expressed concern on Tuesday that the dollar ban would cause a greenback shortage and possibly lead to a grey foreign currency market, as the Iraqi dinar ($1 = 1,167 dinars) is not accepted abroad.

ISOLATION.

The Shi‘ite Arab-led Iraqi government has rejected an offer by the Kurdish government to discuss independence.

Backed by Iran and Turkey, Baghdad has demanded that the KRG cancel the referendum result or face continued sanctions, international isolation and possible military intervention.

The international flight ban, imposed last Friday, is forcing travelers to transit through Baghdad and other airports in southern Iraq. It is mainly impacting businessmen and foreigners working in the Kurdish region.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi headed to Paris on Wednesday, his first foreign visit since the Kurdish crisis began. His office denied last week that he would hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about the Kurdish referendum.

Before leaving Baghdad, Abadi declared three days of national mourning for Jalal Talabani, a veteran champion of the Kurdish cause who later tried as Iraqi president to heal the country’s deep sectarian and ethnic divisions.

Talabani died in Germany on Tuesday aged 83. He was Iraq’s first non-Arab president, a post he took up in 2005, two years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab. Talbani stood down in 2014.

jeepguy · October 4, 2017

A strain on the dollar, but a need for dinar

Spider · October 4, 2017

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/405651-masoud-barzani-kurds-turkey/

Political suicide: Masoud Barzani’s miscalculation will push Kurdistan into the abyss

Martin Jay is an award winning British journalist now based in Beirut who works on a freelance basis for a number of respected British newspapers as well as previously Al Jazeera and Deutsche Welle TV. Before Lebanon, he has worked in Africa and Europe for CNN, Euronews, CNBC, BBC, Sunday Times and Reuters. Follow him on Twitter @MartinRJay

Published time: 4 Oct, 2017 12:45

Political suicide: Masoud Barzani’s miscalculation will push Kurdistan into the abyss

Iraqi Kurdish president Masoud Barzani © Azad Lashkari / Reuters

850

Corruption, dirty politics and betrayal by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has led to Iran and Turkey becoming a tad closer over the political suicide of President Barzani. Will the Kurdistan leader take his own country down with him?

There could never be a more fitting adage to describe the President of Iraqi Kurdistan Massoud Barzani's recent move in Iraqi Kurdistan than Charlotte Bronte’s apt quote: “give a man enough rope and he will hang himself.”

Barzani’s capricious, if not reckless move to plow ahead with a referendum - in an erroneous bid to galvanize more political support for himself - is likely to backfire on a grand scale. Certainly, he has whipped up a plethora of feel-good nationalism as the Kurds’ dream of an independent state was stoked following the demise of ISIS in the region.

But how long will that euphoria last if Iran and Turkey – the two key players who have both Kurdistan’s and Barzani’s fate in their hands – agree to a blockade? While the Kurdistan quandary helps to bring these two countries slightly closer, the prospect of Kurdistan’s oil lifeline being closedbecomes a stark reality as the clock ticks.

Betrayal on a grand scale

What is seldom reported by the Western media camped in the decadent regional capital of Erbil is the jaw-dropping level of corruption by Barzani and his people – the kind of graft which makes Baghdad look modest in its looting of public money, kickbacks and wholesale embezzlement. And how corruption, which has driven Kurdistan deeper into the quagmire of poverty and debt ($20 billion at last count) has ruined the country and put Barzani in the position he is now: one of desperation, both politically and financially.

Barzani tenuously holds onto power over only half of the region, as fervor stirred up by the referendum was designed to galvanize his own (already extended) term in office as president. The cash from Kirkuk oil fields was also supposed to help Kurdistan’s beleaguered economy pull itself out of a crisis brought about by a war with ISIS and low oil prices.

Barzani’s critics, however, are harsher. One senior Iranian figure told me on the condition of anonymity that most of this money would end up in the pockets of Barzani’s clan anyway, and that corruption is really the core issue which Western pundits are missing in the smoke and mirrors of the referendum debacle.

The real problem for Barzani is that he has burned all his bridges with the central government in Baghdad, with Iran, and even, although to a lesser extent, with Turkey. It’s widely unreported in the West that it was the Iranians who saved his neck in 2014 when ISIS was a matter of kilometers from Erbil, the region’s capital.

According to a somewhat obscure Kurdish news website, Tehran sent its own special forces, led by General Solaimani, to Erbil to deter ISIS when the Americans refused to help, dispatching another myth of how effective the infamous Peshmerga really are on the battlefield.

Barzani would have been wiser to have been more grateful to Iran. Yet he has betrayed Tehran on a grand scale by defying its advice and offer of help to negotiate with Baghdad in preference for the referendum. Now, officials tell me, he has “lost any leverage at all with Baghdad,” who will now take back anything that could be on the table for negotiation.

One senior Iranian figure did confirm this, however.

Professor Sayed Mohamed Morandi of the Tehran University says Barzani is in the crosshairs of Iranian officials who will extract more from the Kurdish leader, because of the referendum: “They will get more now because they have justification to tighten the screws which has grown much stronger, because of the ‘Popular Mobilization Forces’ (feared Iraqi Shia militias)."

Talk about a gun backfiring in your face.

READ MORE: Iraq’s Kurdistan plans presidential, parliamentary elections on November 1 - report

The price is right

Iran’s experiences with Barzani were that Tehran always distrusted him. It is a popular myth that the Kurds started to sell their own oil after agreed payments from Baghdad stopped. In fact, Iran claims it was the other way around. Double-crossing is the mainstay of Barzani and Iran has paid the price for this. Even with ISIS, Iranian officials now believe there was originally a deal with the Kurds that they would not fight the extremist group, allowing the Kurds to take a number of towns which the Iraqi army abandoned. Later, that unwritten deal was to be broken (hence the Erbil crisis in 2014) but Baghdad and Iran are both seething with anger that in the early days the Kurds would not attack ISIS as they were asked to do.

Kurds like to present themselves as the victims of betrayal and persecution, yet they are prolific at the dark crafts themselves.

Because of this colossal betrayal and a total lack of trust in Barzani, the Kurdish president is almost entirely isolated. Amazingly, he must have seen this as a position of strength in the early days; but just recently, it is beginning to sink in that his only options are to stay in the boiling fat, or jump into the fire.

National consensus on the need to cancel the referendum before any dialogue

05/10/2017 12:00 am

The government of the region refuses .. And Washington respond: We want a unified Iraq
Baghdad / Erbil / Kirkuk / Nahdet Ali

The strong rejection of the referendum of the Kurdistan region, both internally and externally, has destroyed the dreams of those who seek secession.

The Kurdish parties renewed their opposition to the policies followed by the outgoing President Massoud Barzani, in harmony with the federal government and with neighboring countries, especially Iran and Turkey, and the world, especially the United States of America, which renewed, again, rejected the referendum and considered it without doubt will lead to destabilization.
At a time when the national political events stood behind the decisions of the legislative and executive authorities and the position of the supreme religious authority, which rejects the division of Iraq and called for a conditional dialogue to cancel the referendum on secession, as well as the Prime Minister Haider Abadi said that «the world told the Kurdistan region that the best between the referendum and Baghdad, "The separatists insisted on their refusal to cancel it, claiming that" it is not as easy as officials in Baghdad think. "
The deputy speaker of parliament, Hammam Hamoudi, reiterated his rejection of any dialogue with the leaders of the Kurdistan secession project unless the results of the referendum and the adoption of the constitution were canceled. He called on the Kurdish people to refuse to "beg the ruler," and promised them: "You will receive your salaries. Complete if the oil returned to the government, and without an intermediary ».
Sheikh Hamoudi explained that the referendum was carried out by a party without consultation with the rest of the Kurdish parties or partners. He pointed out that Barzani behaved with oil imports as if he were king and wealth was his own property and not the property of the people.
While the MP from the bloc of the wisdom stream, Hassan Khalati, to the same opinion by stressing the need to "not put" the referendum of the Kurdistan region in any dialogues with Kurdish politicians, stressing that the referendum «invalid legal».
Khalati said: "Any dialogues are conducted with Kurdish politicians should be built on the basis that nothing has happened under the title of the referendum because it is constitutional does not have a legal impact on him according to the decision of the Council of Representatives and the government and the Federal Court," noting that "the referendum and all that resulted from it will not be raised by Dialogues being original does not concern us, and legally void, and no trace of it ».
For his part, the deputy of the coalition of state law, Mansour al-Baiji, the loss of Kurdish members of their membership in the Federal Parliament to two articles of the Constitution, explaining that they violated the right according to Article 50 of the Constitution and also according to Article 52 have lost their membership in parliament for violating the Constitution and laws in force and did not respect the will of the people Iraq.
On a related note, the United States, which the separatists promise as an important ally, once again reiterated its rejection of the referendum and its consequences, because it would "undoubtedly destabilize."
The spokeswoman for the US State Department, Heather Noiret, that her country reaffirms its failure to recognize the results of the referendum on the secession of the region from Iraq, and said, «We asked the government of Kurdistan not to hold the referendum because it will destabilize and this is inevitably shown by looking at the statements and threats faced by Iraq And the province now and this is undoubtedly destabilizing. "
"We want a stable, united and democratic Iraq. Our position has not changed and we will not change. We do not want any violence in either the North or the Iraqi government. We feel that the two sides should sit down and discuss what they want for their country in the future."
The Kurdistan Regional Government announced yesterday its refusal to cancel the results of the referendum as a condition to enter into dialogue with the federal government.
While the response of the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in the province on the statement of Azhar on the referendum of Kurdistan, racist and sectarian and incitement with distinction.

yota691 · October 4, 2017

Baghdad and Erbil are moving towards housing

05/10/2017 12:00 am

Rod Nordland and David Zukino / The New York Times * The
world has every excuse to imagine that the war in Iraq is inevitable. After Iraq's referendum was held, the result was in favor of independence, defying Baghdad's warnings to take action against their referendum. In the wake of that, Iraq banned international flights to the Kurdish region and sent units of its security forces to areas close to the Kurdish border, while Iraq's neighbors threatened to intervene economically and militarily. A week or more passed without the Kurds taking real steps towards declaring independence. That referendum was a crucial moment with consequences and effects in the long struggle of the Kurds to find a homeland for them, although this did not appear that these or Baghdad are determined to continue fueling that moment until it reaches the limits of the crisis.
Oil continues to flow despite Turkish threats to close the carrier's vital pipeline, and the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are still fighting side by side with Iraqi forces, leaving their borders open. The military maneuvers by Turkey and Iran have been seen as a show of force and no more. On Monday, Iran carried out a parade when tanks were sent to the important Barwaq Khan crossing on its border with Kurdistan. However, the border remained open to civilian traffic as it was.
Only the concrete action taken by Baghdad, the ban on international flights to and from Kurdistan airports, was left on Friday. But even this measure was eased when Iraqi authorities recently announced they would allow air travel from Kurdistan through Baghdad.
Although crucial issues at stake, such as an independent Kurdish state in the future and the threat of Iraq's disintegration, have given both sides a provocative approach, at least partly because of local political considerations.
The timing of the referendum process was a sensitive issue for the Kurdish region's prime minister Massoud Barzani in order to raise his level of popularity at home and divert attention from the economic problems experienced by the Kurdistan region.
In Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is also seen as an attempt to calm the situation and deal with the crisis wisely.
In an interview on Tuesday, Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for Abadi, said that the Iraqi government had hesitated without going through most of its threats to give the Kurds what he called "the maximum possible chance to retreat from their position." He added: "The government does not want to ignite Position, we think they will retreat. »
But he added that the government had a timetable for forcing the Kurds to give up their control of the border and oil revenues as well, although he declined to give details.
"It is a long-term strategy," says Ali al-Alak, a well-known deputy in the Iraqi parliament and a close associate of al-Abadi. "Iraq will continue to cut Kurdistan's exports and revenues slowly and again until they have to respond, "Ultimately, the proceeds will be recovered and Barzani will have nothing left and his dreams will collapse."
The Kurds, for their part, say they do not intend to follow the referendum with an immediate declaration of independence. "We conducted the referendum after we lost confidence, but it is not a condition that the state's announcement comes the next day," said Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's former foreign minister and architect of the Kurdish referendum process. "The conditions and requirements of building the state is much more difficult than the referendum we held on September 25, which will not take place between day and night."
The Kurds hoped that their referendum would provide them with a force to start negotiations for separation from Baghdad, and although Abadi expressed his rejection of that, the Kurds did not cut the hope of Baghdad agrees to hold consultations. The Kurds also exclude the use of Baghdad to subjugate the Kurdish region by force.
"Military intervention will not happen," says Vahal Ali, director of communications at Barzani's office.
Besides, the Iraqis are now engaged in fighting with the Da'ash gang, which still controls some areas of Iraq, and they need the cooperation of the Kurdish military forces in that battle.
But the truth is that neither side wants a military confrontation, says Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East specialist at the International Crisis Group. "If things get worse, it will be because of a certain emergency that happens, not necessarily because Abadi wanted it," says Hiltermann. Personally, I do not think we are close to this point. "
During that time, Western diplomats were active behind the scenes in constant attempts to calm the two sides and maintain the alliance that would deal with a" preacher. " These diplomats expressed their optimism that the crisis of separation will not reach the boiling point and get out of control to become a conflict, at least now.
Last week there was an unexpected shift in attitude through the Friday sermon of Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Sistani strongly criticized the idea of an independent Kurdish state, but at the same time he advised dialogue, calling on Baghdad to respect the rights of the Kurds.
"Mr. Sistani opened the door for the dialogue with Erbil and he is safe, but at the same time, making the separation of Kurdistan from Iraq a red line that will not allow Baghdad to bypass it," wrote Randa Salam, director of conflict resolution at the Middle East Institute in Washington. The statement gave the two sides hope and defuse the tension between them somewhat.
Turkey and Iran, which oppose any move toward secession of the Kurds for fear of possible effects on their Kurdish minority, have also failed to pursue their hostile threats, including military maneuvers on the border with the Kurds and economic isolation.
Turkey, in particular, is capable of signaling the most serious threat to the troubled Kurdish economy: the closure of the Kurdish oil pipeline through Turkey and the biggest source of revenues in the Kurdish region. But Economy Minister Nahat Zibeki told reporters over the weekend that work would go ahead as well. He described economic sanctions as "dangerous rhetoric" and said any trade sanctions would harm Turkey as much as it did to the Kurdish region of Iraq.
For a long time, the Kurds have had a great deal of freedom to govern their northern regions, so much so that many see their status as closer to actual independence, managing their own defense and foreign affairs and exporting their own oil.
The crisis of the referendum and independence has not yet had a noticeable impact on the Kurdish economy and its current crisis, with the exception of some activities that serve foreign visitors such as hotels. "One of the hotels, Arjan Rotana Hotel, has only two guests in its 165 rooms because of the travel ban," said Rosa Mustafa, sales coordinator at the luxury Rotana Hotel in Erbil.
Concerns that the referendum and its consequences would lead to a hysterical turnout in a country heavily dependent on imports were not reflected, which could have been followed by a wave of cash withdrawals from banks. Kurdistan does not have a central bank as part of Iraq's financial and monetary system.
"A relatively small number of small account holders have withdrawn their accounts out of concern," says Lara Azmet, director of the Byblos Bank branch in Erbil. "When Da'sh was attacked in 2014, many people were horrified and withdrew their money, but now only in a few small accounts, the big accounts remain in place."
Kurdish leaders believe, at least for the moment, that they are capable To bear what the storm will bring. "What has happened so far has not gone beyond the limits of our expectation. We knew it would not be without risk and we are prepared to bear the consequences," Zebari says. But these consequences could open the door to hell for pro-separation Kurdish politicians. Translation - Anis Saffar

Spider · October 5, 2017

5 hours ago, Half Crazy Runner said:

Thanks for bringing over that article Spider! Interesting stuff indeed ...

You're welcome

yota691 · October 5, 2017

2017/10/05 (00:01 PM) - Number of readings: 185 - Number (4033)

New York Times: Baghdad and Erbil do not want to turn the referendum into a crisis

 Translation / Hamid Ahmed

World opinion may excuse the belief that a new war would have erupted in Iraq after the vote of the population of Kurdistan in favor of a referendum on self-determination. Kurdish citizens took to the streets at the end of last month, waving flags and firing car alarms to express their joy. At the same time, the Kurds ignored Baghdad's threats to take military action.

As a result, the federal government in Baghdad stopped flights to the region and carried out maneuvers on the border from Iran and Turkey, while the two threatened economic sanctions and military interventions.
On the other hand, more than a week after the referendum, the Kurds did not take any effective action to declare their independence, nor did Baghdad and its allies take any action to implement their threats to intervene.
The referendum on self-determination was considered a moment of hope in the long struggle of the Kurds to find a homeland of their own, but it seems neither Baghdad nor the Kurds are determined to turn this event into a crisis.
Kurdish oil continues to flow despite the threats of the Turks to close the pipeline pipeline vital oil passing through its territory, as well as elements of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces are still fighting side by side the International Coalition in Iraq against Dahesh, and the borders of the region is open.
The military maneuvers by Turkey and Iran were viewed by all parties as merely a show of strength.
On Monday, Iran carried out a specific review by moving its combat tanks near the border crossing of Parviz Khan with Kurdistan, but the border is still open to civilian land transport as usual.
Baghdad's tougher action to ban international flights to and from the airport has been pacified this week when Iraqi authorities announced it would allow flights to be resumed from Kurdistan via transit from Baghdad airport.
The two sides' moves seem to have been motivated by at least some domestic political considerations. For the Kurds, the observers and opponents have seen in the timing of the referendum, an attempt by the presidency of the Kurdistan region to strengthen its internal popular presence and the attention of people to the problems of the economic region. In Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's hard-line stance has been seen as an attempt to appease militants from Shi'ite leaders who demand a violent response to Kurdish provocations.
Saad al-Hadithi, a spokesman for Abadi, said in an interview with the New York Times, that the Iraqi government has not implemented most of its threats yet to give the Kurds "an opportunity to retract their position."
He went on to say that "the government does not want to ignite the situation, we believe they will retreat," stressing that the government has set a timetable to force the Kurds to hand over the responsibility of border management and oil revenues to Baghdad.
For their part, the Kurds say that it was never their intention to immediately follow their vote of independence.
Former Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said: "We conducted this referendum because we lost confidence. We were fighting from the position of the defender for a missing country. But independence does not happen automatically so we announce on the second day of the referendum. "It can not happen overnight."
"I do not think there will be military intervention, because first of all they do not have the military capability to do that," said Vahal Ali, communications director at the office of the regional president, Massoud Barzani.
"The truth is that neither side wants a military confrontation, and if things get worse, it's because of the dynamism of the event, not necessarily because Abadi wants it," said Joost Hiltermann, an expert on the Middle East Crisis Management Group, "so I do not think we're close to that point "He said.
What is happening behind the scenes, Western diplomats have made efforts to calm the spasm between the two parties to maintain the validity of the coalition against the organization of a preacher.
Diplomats have expressed optimism that the referendum crisis will not develop into military conflict at least until now. Last Friday, the Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani criticized the idea of an independent Kurdish state, calling for dialogue and Baghdad should respect the rights of the Kurds.
"While Sistani provided a suitable political atmosphere for Abadi to engage in a dialogue with Erbil, he also considered the separation of Kurdistan a red line that Baghdad can not overcome," wrote Randa Salem, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Middle East Studies. "This position gave hope to the parties and mitigated Tension between them.

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Deputy: the drafts to solve the crisis in Baghdad - the region ink on paper !!

05-10-2017 01:39 PM

Readers

image.php?token=66d959c9bb23fc9e466df6a4948eb00d&size=

Baghdad News -

The Kurdish Movement for Change MP Kawa Mohammed said on Thursday that all domestic and international initiatives are still on paper only and have not been activated, in conjunction with news of four proposals submitted by the United Nations to resolve the crisis between Baghdad and Erbil.

"All the parties that presented the initiatives, including the United Nations, are supposed to activate them through dialogues and meetings and adopt meetings with all parties in Baghdad and Kurdistan," she said in a press statement.

He added that 'the Kurdish leadership and the President of the Kurdistan region to make concessions in order to reach a solution to the crisis, especially in light of the suffering suffered by the Kurdish people, which has been added to the new crises'.

"It is supposed to Baghdad, especially the Iraqi parliament, to provide a step for reconciliation, not to take the initiative to escalate as we approach common understandings," pointing out that 'the solution must be Iraqi, but under the auspices of the international and international only'.

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Washington is "disappointed" with the referendum in Kurdistan

Since 2017-10-05 at 13:24 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad Mawazine News

The US ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Seelman, said Thursday that his country has "disappointment" over the question of the referendum of Kurdistan, and to take economic measures on the referendum unilaterally must be in accordance with the Constitution so as not to disrupt the interest of the Kurdish citizen and reflected on daily life.

"The United States was ready to provide assistance for dialogue, but after the The referendum withdrew that assistance ", according to the NRT channel

He added that "when we call for dialogue with the region, I hope to understand the health method, and understand the apparent resentment by the Iraqi government on the subject of the referendum of Kurdistan," noting that "his country wants Iraq to be prosperous."

He said that "after the restoration of the land of the Dahesh there is an understanding that the force be trapped by the civilian citizens of those areas," referring to "the presence of sleeper cells in the areas restored."

"The first time I met Talabani was in New York in 2006, and he was a well-liked and wise politician for the Iraqis," Sulliman said of the death of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

On the presence of US forces in Iraq, Sileman said that "there are military advisers with the Iraqi military units, and there is no military force of the international coalition led by the United States on the ground."

"There are no US combat forces in Hawija, but there is clear support and support from the coalition forces," he said. "We believe that the security forces, the popular crowd, the Peshmerga and the counterterrorism agency are responsible for protecting civilians."

The US ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman, said on Wednesday that his country does not support the referendum held in the Kurdistan region, pointing to the existence of "another way can be followed."

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Iraq eases financial restrictions on Kurdistan in the first gesture to defuse the crisis

From 2017-10-04 at 22:18 (Baghdad time)

%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D9%83%20%D8%A7%

Follow up of Mawazine News

A source in the banking sector in Iraq that the central bank on Wednesday reduced financial restrictions imposed on the Kurdistan region in response to the referendum on independence of the region after receiving a pledge from Kurdish banks to cooperate.

The source added that the central bank allowed only four Kurdish-owned banks to send and receive remittances of the dollar and foreign currencies on Wednesday.

This is the first measure to defuse the crisis that erupted after voters in Iraq's northern Kurdistan region voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum on September 25.

The Iraqi government also imposed a ban on direct international flights to and from the region.

The central bank notified the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Tuesday that it would stop selling dollars to the four Kurdish banks and stop all foreign currency transfers to the region, banking and government sources told Reuters.

The measures aim to tighten the central bank's control over the Kurdish banking sector.

"The ban on selling the dollar will be lifted if the central bank sees that the four banks are already cooperating in disclosing their financial transactions," the source said.

Two exchange offices said that the foreign exchange rate in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan region, the dollar did not change today compared to the previous day.

Businessmen in Erbil expressed concern yesterday that the ban on the sale of the dollar could lead to a lack of liquidity and may create a black market because dealing with the Iraqi dinar is not acceptable abroad.

isolation

The Iraqi government has rejected a proposal from the Kurdish government to discuss independence and demanded the cancellation of the referendum result, otherwise the region will face ongoing sanctions, an international boycott and the possibility of military intervention.

With support from Iran and Turkey, Baghdad demanded that the Kurdistan government cancel the result of the referendum or face further sanctions, international isolation and possibly military intervention.

The ban on international travel imposed on Friday compels travelers to travel through Baghdad airport and other airports in southern Iraq. The ban mainly affects businessmen and foreigners working in the territory.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi went to Paris on his first foreign visit since the Kurdish crisis began. His office denied last week that he would hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macaron on the Kurdish referendum.

Before leaving Baghdad, Abbadi declared a three-day mourning for the death of veteran leader Jalal Talabani, a hero of the Kurdish cause who, when he took office, tried to repair sectarian and ethnic divisions in the country.

Talabani died in Germany on Tuesday, aged 83. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq, a position he took in 2005, two years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Talabani stepped down in 2014.

is over

M

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Barzani party: the big powers will prevent Iran and Turkey from being exposed to Kurdistan

Since 2017-10-05 at 13:00 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad Mawazine News

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Massoud Barzani, said on Thursday that major powers with interests in the region would prevent Turkey and Iran from being exposed to Kurdistan.

"The statements and threats by Iran and Turkey will not affect Kurdistan in its quest for secession," she said. "For 26 years, the Kurds have proved that they are not a threat to anyone and have the best relations. With Turkey and Iran. "

She added that "the Kurds want to exercise their rights in their new entity after the inability of the Iraqi government to provide them with these rights."

"The era of the military invasion is over and there are countries with interests in the region that are bigger than Iran and Turkey and will prevent a military intervention in Kurdistan."

"Cutting off the economic relations from the Turkish side with Kurdistan will harm Ankara more than the region because Kurdistan is the vital artery of Turkey and will inflame the internal situation inside Turkish territory if we know that the area adjacent to Kurdistan is inhabited by the Kurds of Turkey and these will revolt against their government."

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Kurdistan Islamic Union: We are not advocates of war and dialogue with Baghdad is the only solution

From 2017-10-05 at 12:23 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad Mawazine News

The head of the Kurdistan Islamic Union bloc in the Iraqi parliament Muthana Amin, on Thursday, that dialogue is the only solution to the crises between Baghdad and the Kurdistan region.

"We are not advocates of war, war, fighting and blood among the Iraqis are haraam, and everyone who calls for war calls for destruction," Amin told Mawazine News.

"No one will get out of the war," he said.

He stressed that "dialogue is the only solution to all the problems between Baghdad and Arbil," adding that "the governments of Baghdad and Erbil resort to dialogue and prevent escalation on the crisis of the referendum on secession."

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Erdogan criticizes the involvement of Kirkuk in the referendum of Kurdistan

From 2017-10-05 at 13:27 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad Mawazine News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized on Thursday the involvement of the people of the disputed city of Kirkuk between Iraq and the Kurdistan region in a referendum conducted by the authorities of the latter on independence.

Erdogan said that "Turkey, Iran and Iraq will issue a joint decision on the cessation of oil supplies from northern Iraq," in response to the referendum, which does not recognize the three countries legitimacy.

The Kurdistan region voted on September 25 at nearly 93 percent for independence in a non-binding referendum.

The organization of the referendum followed the imposition of sanctions by the capital Baghdad, including stopping international flights to airports Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, in addition to the imposition of sanctions on Kurdish banks and stop foreign currency transfers to the Kurdish region.

Erdogan said Wednesday he will take further steps and actions against Iraq's Kurdistan after the referendum.

He added in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rowhani in Tehran that the only official contact with Turkey is the central government in Baghdad.

yota691 · October 5, 2017

The interests of the major powers stand in the way of preventing the punishment of Erbil and demands of a "real dialogue"

From 2017-10-05 at 13:47 (Baghdad time)

Baghdad - Mawazine News

Parliamentarians said the crisis between Baghdad and Erbil was economic before it was political and began to worsen day after day, noting that the only solution to resolving it was to resort to real negotiations between the two sides.

This is confirmed by Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri through the move to gather all political parties to resolve the crisis left by the referendum in the region.

"The government of the center and the region should leave the media escalation and start a real stage of negotiations between the two parties," MP Tafkha Ahmad told the Mawazine News, while the escalation was considered "political and electoral" because all those who speak about the Kurds from the Arab legislators will step up. His electoral balance and the same issue in Kurdistan, everyone who ascends in positions is considered a national hero.

"The Kurdish people are pushing the victim of this conflict, especially after the government's measures to impose a siege on the people of Kurdistan," she said. "The government should think that there are more than one million Arab refugees living in the region.

In a new context, Vice President Iyad Allawi, his call for dialogue between Baghdad and Erbil, noting that "unconditional dialogue under the roof of the Constitution is a reasonable solution to end the crisis between the two sides."

He said in a statement that "unconditional dialogue under the roof of the Constitution is a reasonable solution to end the crisis," noting that "the need to benefit from the positive flexibility to answer the President of the Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani on his initiative."

The MP in the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Massoud Barzani Najiba Najib, also ruled out the impact of Iranian, Turkish and Iraqi statements and threats on Kurdistan.

"The era of the military invasion is over and there are countries with interests in the region that are bigger than Iran and Turkey and will prevent a military intervention in Kurdistan."

The federal government in Baghdad, represented by Prime Minister Haider Abadi, has confirmed for more than once that opening the door to dialogue with the region conditional on cancellation of the referendum and its results.

yota691 · October 5, 2017

Erdogan: Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad will take a decision on stopping the supply of oil from Kurdistan

- 10/5/2017 2:52:00 AM29 Number of readings

Khandan-

Turkey, Iran and Iraq will take a joint decision on stopping the flow of oil supplies from the Kurdistan region in response to the referendum, media quoted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as saying on Thursday.

Erdogan was speaking to NTV and CNN television on his return from a visit to Iran.

Erdogan also criticized the inclusion of the city of Kirkuk in the referendum, saying that "the Kurds have no legitimacy there," as he put it.

CRYPTO REWARDS!

Parliamentary power: Kurds did not provide a convincing justification for non-commitment to pay oil money

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Synopsis

jcfrag

DoD

Posted Images

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

"Central Iraq" eases financial restrictions on the "Kurdistan"

Link to comment

Share on other sites

The Central Bank of Iraq eases the banking restrictions on the Kurdistan Region

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Iraq eases financial restrictions on Kurdistan region, in first sign of de-escalation

ISOLATION.

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Political suicide: Masoud Barzani’s miscalculation will push Kurdistan into the abyss

Betrayal on a grand scale

The price is right

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Recently Browsing 0 members

Announcements

Similar Content

Testing the Rocker Badge!

Live Exchange Rate