ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s cabinet has approved $15 million in humanitarian assistance to war-afflicted Syrians living in areas outside government control, but a minister denied the aid would go exclusively to a self-proclaimed Kurdish interim administration in Syrian Kurdistan.
“The cabinet approved $15 million in humanitarian assistance for the local administrations and the Arab tribes in Syria,” said Iraqi trade minister Khairullah Hassan Babeker. “The assistance includes fuel, food and medicines for Kurds and Arabs,” he added.
He said that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had put forward the proposal to assist Syrians living in areas that are neither controlled by the Damascus government or extremist al-Qaeda groups. The premier had informed the cabinet that Arab chiefs of the al-Jibur tribe had demanded the Iraqi government assistance.
The trade minister denied that the aid would go exclusively to the interim administration declared in Syria’s Kurdish regions – or Rojava – by the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
“The assistance will be for everyone based on population. Let’s not politicize this pure humanitarian issue, this is not about recognition of PYD’s administration. Iraq even sends humanitarian assistance to Somalia and other countries,” he explained.
Earlier this month PYD leaders announced an interim government for Syria’s Kurdish areas. Kurdish, Arab and Christian leaders made the announcement in Qamishli after hours of discussions.
Turkey rejected the administration, while the Kurdistan Region’s presidency dismissed it as an attempt by the PYD to further consolidate its own power in Rojava without power-sharing with other Kurdish parties.
The money from Baghdad “would go for the local administrations and the tribal chiefs,” Babekir said.
