President Barzani Continues Diplomacy with Key European Partners

BARCELONA, Spain - Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani has been continuing talks with major players in Europe, and during a visit to Germany he discussed the political and security challenges facing Iraq.

“The real solution is for Iraq to be committed to a federal system, which is a basic principle in the Iraqi constitution,” Barzani told German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, according to a statement Wednesday by the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) presidential office.

Referring to the security crisis in Anbar, Iraq’s largest Sunni province where Iraqi government forces and hardcore Islamic militants are fighting for control, Barzani noted that Kurds enjoy peace and prosperity compared to the rest of the country.

More than 1,000 people were killed last month in Iraq due to the worsening sectarian tensions.

“It is equally important that all sides work together in the fight against terrorism, especially at a time when they have increasingly grown in strength and now constitute a real threat to the whole region,” said Barzani.

Last month, Barzani met several European and other high-ranking officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

At a speech in Brussels before the European Parliament, he called for support in building democratic institutions in Kurdistan, for more European countries to open consulates in Erbil and help in supporting tens of thousands of Syrian and other refugees.

Barzani and Steinmeier also discussed the impact of the Syrian crisis on Kurdistan and on Iraq. The Kurdistan region has given refuge to some 250,000 Syrians.

In a recent interview with Rudaw on the sidelines of the Geneva II peace conference on Syria, Steinmeier was asked why Germany did not try harder to secure the participation of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish faction in Syria which has declared autonomy over Syria’s Kurdish regions.

“The Kurds should have more representation in the Syrian opposition,” the German foreign minister said in the interview with Rudaw.

“In such conferences, it is the responsibility of the Syrian opposition, not the outside party, to find an appropriate mechanism to guarantee a broader representation of opposition groups,” Steinmeier added.

On the KRG policy to export oil via Turkey, Barzani reiterated during his visit to Germany that ties between Kurdistan and Turkey are based on mutual interests, and that these ties would also serve the interests of Iraq in general.

The deal, to import Kurdish oil through a pipeline extended by the Kurds to carry their own oil to the Turkish port of Ceylan, has upset Baghdad, which fears the financial independence of the KRG could lead to an independent state.

Regarding efforts to form the new government in Kurdistan, the statement said Barzani emphasized that priorities for Kurdistan are to maintain the security and stability that prevail in the Region and also to continue to develop the Region and its economic infrastructure.

Months after elections in September for Kurdistan’s own legislature, the formation of a cabinet has remained elusive.

Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the election, the opposition Change Movement (Gorran) came second. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), whose leader Jalal Talabani has been in Germany recuperating from a stroke more than a year ago, came third.

Barzani was briefed in Berlin about Talabani’s health, but there were no reports whether he had met with the PUK leader.

The statement also quoted Barzani saying that all political sides in Iraq must remain committed to holding parliamentary elections on time, due in late April this year.

Barzani’s Europe visit comes on the heels of a cancelled trip to Washington. The reasons for the cancelation are not clear, but Washington has declared its opposition to the oil deal between Kurdistan and Turkey and does not favor an independent Kurdistan.