UN chief urges Erbil and Baghdad to begin real negotiations
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The head of the United Nations has expressed his support for constitutionally-based political dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad in a letter to the Kurdistan Region prime minister.
The UN’s envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, delivered the letter in a meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.
“I encourage both sides to take the necessary steps to create a conducive environment in which genuine negotiations can take place,” Guterres wrote.
He said he was encouraged to see that the regional and federal governments have expressed their readiness on several occasions to enter dialogue.
“A further destabilization of the current situation must be prevented, in the interests of promoting national reconciliation, fostering greater stability in a volatile region and confronting the threat that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS] continues to pose,” he wrote.
Barzani thanked Kubis for the statement and stressed that his government has always been ready to engage in dialogue with Baghdad in order to resolve problems within the framework of the constitution.
Baghdad has not yet responded to calls from Erbil and internationally to sit down and talk with the Kurds following Kurdistan’s independence vote.
Military representatives of the two sides have met to discuss security matters, but no political talks have taken place as of yet.
Kubis has been meeting with relevant parties to try to bring them to the table. He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday to discuss recent developments and the need for “inclusive political dialogue,” his office tweeted.
On Wednesday the UN envoy met with Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr organization. They discussed security, “post-referendum developments,” and national elections planned for 2018.
Updated at 11:12 pm, adding quotations from Guterres' letter
The UN’s envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, delivered the letter in a meeting on Wednesday with Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.
“I encourage both sides to take the necessary steps to create a conducive environment in which genuine negotiations can take place,” Guterres wrote.
He said he was encouraged to see that the regional and federal governments have expressed their readiness on several occasions to enter dialogue.
“A further destabilization of the current situation must be prevented, in the interests of promoting national reconciliation, fostering greater stability in a volatile region and confronting the threat that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIS] continues to pose,” he wrote.
Barzani thanked Kubis for the statement and stressed that his government has always been ready to engage in dialogue with Baghdad in order to resolve problems within the framework of the constitution.
Baghdad has not yet responded to calls from Erbil and internationally to sit down and talk with the Kurds following Kurdistan’s independence vote.
Military representatives of the two sides have met to discuss security matters, but no political talks have taken place as of yet.
Kubis has been meeting with relevant parties to try to bring them to the table. He met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday to discuss recent developments and the need for “inclusive political dialogue,” his office tweeted.
On Wednesday the UN envoy met with Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Badr organization. They discussed security, “post-referendum developments,” and national elections planned for 2018.