ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi federalism has failed but the Iraqi Kurds are not seeking independence but greater autonomy, Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said on Wednesday.
“Federalism has failed and if we can’t establish federalism, we are asking for additional autonomy, not for the destruction of Iraq,” Barzani told the second day of the Middle East Research Institute’s forum being held in Erbil.
“It would be very hard after 1991 and 2003 to go back to square one,” he said, referring to Kurdish autonomy that developed after the Gulf war sparked by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and the US-led war that overthrew the Iraqi dictator.
Barzani’s comments constituted one of the most public declarations downplaying the prospect of independence since the Islamic State turned its sights on Kurdistan after taking control of large swathes of territory in northern Iraq in the summer. Even after ISIS took Mosul, KRG leaders were more outspoken about a possible break from Baghdad.
Baghdad was still not taking steps towards a solution of the many issues disputed by Erbil, including the budget, Barzani said. The Iraqi government has refused to pay the KRG’s share of the federal budget since the beginning of the year.
In addition, Baghdad still refused to grant the KRG the right to control its own air space, would not integrate the Peshmerga into the Iraqi armed forces, nor agree to the Kurds exporting their own oil, the prime minister said.
He recounted that officials in Baghdad told the Kurds that selling oil was not the same as selling tomatoes and cucumbers. “It’s easier to sell oil,” said Ashti Hawrami, Kurdish minister of natural resources, according to Barzani.
He thanked Turkey for allowing passage last week of 150 Peshmerga to help relieve Kobane, the Kurdish-Syrian town near the Turkish border under siege by ISIS for almost two months. “It was not an easy decision for them and we appreciate it and are grateful,” Barzani said.
He said Massoud Barzani, Kurdish president, had realised the danger posed by ISIS a year before Mosul, Iraq’s second-biggest city, fell to the militants. But Nouri Al Maliki, then Iraqi prime minister, refused to engage.
“Barzani called Maliki and said Mosul was in danger but he wouldn’t listen,” the prime minister said.
Barham Salih, KRG prime minister between 2009 and 2012, also said the time was not right for independence. Even if the Kurds were go it alone, Baghdad would remain their most important neighbour, he said.
While ties with Ankara and Tehran were crucial, Iraqi Kurdistan, also known as southern Kurdistan, could not ignore Baghdad. “As southern Kurds, Baghdad is more important to us,” he said.
Salih said Iraqi Kurdistan needed more entrenched institutions and diversification away from a “consumption economy”.
“I support Barham’s speech, we have to reorganise our house,” Barzani said.
The men were speaking at a session on the “New Middle East Order: Threats and Opportunities” following the geopolitical earthquake caused by this year’s ISIS offensive and grab of territory across Iraq and Syria.
The Sykes-Picot lines of early last century, when the UK and France divided the Middle East among them, were destroyed, Salih said. “We have to deal carefully to avoid exclusion,” he said.
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