ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The KRG is reassuring Tehran that they will not allow the activities of Kurdish Iranian opposition parties to harm relations between the two governments.
"Giving importance to our relations with Iran is the demand of all political parties in the Kurdistan Region,” KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee said in an interview with Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
“We have asked and warned these groups to not use the land of Kurdistan Region against our neighbors Turkey and Iran," he explained.
Iran's Kurdish opposition parties have been based in the Kurdistan Region since 1991 and Tehran has repeatedly accused the KRG of allowing the parties to cross the border and carry out military operations in violation of a border security agreement between Erbil and Tehran.
Last week there were deadly clashes between Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Islamic Revolutionary forces in Oshanvieh and Sarvabad, Iran.
A few days later, a delegation from Iran's consul general in Erbil delivered a formal complaint about cross-border movement of “terrorists” to the KRG's Department of Foreign Affairs.
Dizayee pointed out that the presence of the Kurdish Iranian parties pre-exists the legally recognized Kurdistan Region.
"The presence of these groups is not the result of the establishment of the Kurdistan Region as they were in Iraq during Saddam's regime,” he explained, but his government wants increased cooperation with its neighbor.
“There is a commission between Erbil and Tehran and we are hopeful that this commission will become more active," he said.
The KRG is working to build economic ties with Iran.
“It should be possible to consider the Kurdistan Region as a long-term strategic market, not a short-term one,” KRG Planning Minister Ali Sindi said at a Kurdistan-Iran trade conference in Erbil last month.
The Iranian Kurdish parties are hoping to capitalize on America’s antagonism towards Iran. The heads of two parties were recently in Washington urging US backing for their efforts and calling for regime change in Tehran.
"Giving importance to our relations with Iran is the demand of all political parties in the Kurdistan Region,” KRG spokesperson Safeen Dizayee said in an interview with Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
“We have asked and warned these groups to not use the land of Kurdistan Region against our neighbors Turkey and Iran," he explained.
Iran's Kurdish opposition parties have been based in the Kurdistan Region since 1991 and Tehran has repeatedly accused the KRG of allowing the parties to cross the border and carry out military operations in violation of a border security agreement between Erbil and Tehran.
Last week there were deadly clashes between Peshmerga of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) and Islamic Revolutionary forces in Oshanvieh and Sarvabad, Iran.
A few days later, a delegation from Iran's consul general in Erbil delivered a formal complaint about cross-border movement of “terrorists” to the KRG's Department of Foreign Affairs.
Dizayee pointed out that the presence of the Kurdish Iranian parties pre-exists the legally recognized Kurdistan Region.
"The presence of these groups is not the result of the establishment of the Kurdistan Region as they were in Iraq during Saddam's regime,” he explained, but his government wants increased cooperation with its neighbor.
“There is a commission between Erbil and Tehran and we are hopeful that this commission will become more active," he said.
The KRG is working to build economic ties with Iran.
“It should be possible to consider the Kurdistan Region as a long-term strategic market, not a short-term one,” KRG Planning Minister Ali Sindi said at a Kurdistan-Iran trade conference in Erbil last month.
The Iranian Kurdish parties are hoping to capitalize on America’s antagonism towards Iran. The heads of two parties were recently in Washington urging US backing for their efforts and calling for regime change in Tehran.
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