G7 calls for ‘unity’ of Iraq as Kurds meet to hold independence referendum

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The G7 group of powerful nations has emphasized its continual support for “unity and territorial integrity” of Iraq, calling on both Baghdad and Erbil to take their military cooperation as a model for a political cooperation after the defeat of ISIS in the country.

 

The statement came out as the top leadership in Kurdistan Region, including President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani were in a meeting to discuss holding independence referendum in 2017.

 

The G7 joint communique welcomed the agreement between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments that made it possible for the Iraqi Security Forces and Peshmerga soldiers to fight together against the ISIS group in Mosul since October of last year.

 

“We hope this military cooperation can become a model for political cooperation in a post-Daesh Iraq,” the joint statement from the G7 foreign ministers read, using an Arabic name for ISIS.

 

The international G7 group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and were also joined by the High Representative of the European Union who met in Italy on April 10-11.

 

The Kurdistan Region has already discussed holding the independence referendum with three members of the G7, the US, France, and the United Kingdom, according to a senior Kurdish official.

 

Hoshyar Zebari, a member of President Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Rudaw on Sunday that the Kurdish leadership discussed the referendum with permanent members of the UN Security Council.

 

The G7 statement said that Iraq’s “stability and good governance” will have an impact on the overall future of the region.

 

 

 

The G7 call for unity in Iraq  post-ISIS is well in line with Iraqi Prime Minister’Haider al-Abadi’s hopes that  his country will come out of the war as a more united and stronger state, with Kurds and Arabs sharing the vision to rebuild the war-affected areas.

 

A united Iraq rhetoric is in clear contrast to President Barzani’s assessment of the future relations between Baghdad and Erbil after the defeat of the extremist group.

 

Barzani said in an interview in March that the fall of Mosul is likely to mark the beginning of the breakup of Iraq into different parts, emphasizing that there have been too many massacres and disagreements between various components of Iraq that leave no room for reconciliation, adding that an independnt Kurdistan will make middle east more stable.

 

The Kurdish leadership have emphasized all along since the Mosul offensive began that  good military cooperation has not been translated into cooperation on other aspects. Erbil’s share of the Iraqi revenues remains cut since early 2014, causing a severe ongoing financial crisis in Kurdistan Region that in turn, at least partially, stopped the flow of foreign investment to the Kurdish areas.

 

The newly-founded hopes in foreign capitals, including in Washington and elsewhere, regarding “good governance” in Iraq stems from the fact that PM Abadi is different than his predecessor Nouri al-Maliki who at one stage while in office, threatened with the use of military confrontation against the Kurdish Peshmerga in border areas near Kirkuk.

 

Zebari, who was also the longest-serving Iraq foreign minister and additionally was Iraq’s finance minister serving under both Maliki and Abadi in Baghdad until last year, told Rudaw on Sunday in an interview that he sees no difference between them with regard to their politics.

 

 

The G7 foreign ministers emphasized the necessity to put all armed groups under the command of the Iraqi state.

 

The statement did not name any armed groups in Iraq where there are dozens of them, but the mainly-Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi, also called the Popular Mobilization Forces, though are have become an official froce following an act from the Iraqi parliament last year, continues to remain a concern for the US-led anti-ISIS Global Coalition that includes all G7 members.