Kurdish politicians decide over further negotiatio
Kurdish politicians decide over further negotiations with Baghdad
16/10/2011 16:22
Erbil, Oct. 16 (AKnews) - The Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) will send another delegation to Baghdad to negotiate the outstanding issues between the KRG and the federal government.
This decision was made at a meeting between Kurdish President Massoud Barzani, Kurdish party leaders and members of the other delegation that visited Baghdad for negotiations two weeks ago. Only the oppositional party Goran did not participate in the meeting.
The Kurdish politicians also agreed to form a high committee of representatives of Kurdish parties that deals with the negotiations, said Fuad Hussein, head of the Kurdistan presidential office and a member of the previous delegation.
Finally, a "political observer" is going to be assigned to speed up the relations between Iraqi prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Barzani.
Unfortunately, Hussein did not give any further details, such as how this observer is supposed to do that or how he is going to be assigned.
The tensions between Baghdad and Erbil are sparked by a list of demands that the Kurds 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.
Tension rose recently when the Kurds accused the federal government of passing a draft law without taking the Kurdish opinion into consideration.
On the other hand, Baghdad criticized Erbil for signing contracts with international oil companies without the consent of the federal Oil Ministry.
Last month, Maliki supposedly gave his approval for all Kurdish demands, except one to finance the Kurdish Army, or Peshmarga, as part of the federal defense budget, according to Aref Tayfur, second deputy speaker of parliament and member of the Kurdish Blocs Coalition.
However, this was not the long awaited solution for the dispute, since Tayfur also claimed that Maliki's only condition was that the demands were not contrary to the constitution. This has always been Maliki's standpoint.
By Fryad Mohammed
LH/CU/AKnews