Erbil and Baghdad Draw Lines in the Sand

[Rayzur]

27 Sep 2011

Erbil and Baghdad draw lines in the sand before next round of negotiations

By Karzan Kareem, Fryad Mohammed, Haidar Ibrahim and Mohammed Abdul-Rahman

Baghdad, Erbil, Sulaimaniya - Kurdish and Iraqi politicians reassured their positions, days before a delegation of Kurdish politicians will go to Baghdad to discuss the outstanding issues between the Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) and the federal government.

Kurdistan Region's President Massoud Barzani said, the time for negotiations is over.

"No more delegations will be sent for negotiations, only for enforcing agreements that were already made and upon which the existing Iraqi government was built," Barzani said. "We are really tired of going to Baghdad."

Meanwhile, Izzat Shabandar, member of the Shia National Coalition (NC) in the Iraqi parliament, called on the Kurds to enter negotiations as partners.

"The NC will not make any agreement or sign any deal if it was imposed by the Kurds," Shanbandar said.

The delegation is expected to visit Baghdad next week, according to the London-based Arabic Sharq al-Awast newspaper. The visit had been delayed when tensions rose between Erbil and Baghdad over the new law for the exploitation of oil and gas in the country.

Beside the oil law, the Kurds have a list of demands that they believe they are entitled to after they lent their support to Prime Minister al-Maliki after the last election: the integration of the Kurdish defense forces (the Peshmarga) into the Iraqi army, paid for by the Iraqi government; drafting a new hydrocarbon law; and the implementation of Article 140 into the Iraqi constitution -- which authorizes payments to Kurds who were forced from their homes under Saddam Hussein, a comprehensive census of ethnic groups and a referendum to decide if disputed areas should fall under the control of Kurdistan Regional Government.

Meanwhile, there is confusion if Kurdish Prime Minister Barham Saleh will head the delegation. According to Muaayad Tayyeb, spokesman for the Kurdish Blocs Coalition (KBC) in the Iraqi parliament, Saleh will lead a group consisting of the Ministers of Peshmarga and of Natural Resources and is quoted to expect a "positive atmosphere".

Sharq al-Awast, however, reports, Saleh will not be part of the delegation, which will also only consist of members of the political parties of the Kurdistan Region.

Mohammed Faraj of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) told AKnews that the question who will be a member of the delegation was discussed in a meeting between Barzani and leaders of the Kurdish political parties.

According to Faraj, it was decided that no party representatives will be part of the delegation since all parties already have representatives in the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad who will join the delegation there.

The agreement does not seem to be as unanimously as it appeared. Shoresh Haji, head of the Goran Movement which, together with the KIU and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), forms the opposition in the Kurdish parliament, said that his party will not join the delegation although it had been invited.

© AK News 2011

[mrparrot]

Kinda throws a wrench into

this link, huh...?

[Rayzur]

Kinda throws a wrench into

this link, huh...?

Actually I like your link much better.... and it is more current.... so I say we go with what you said.... I am all for that.... Thanks!