Asked about President Masoud Barzani’s statement that Kurds were “prepared to draw their own borders” if Baghdad refused to accept the referendum result, the prime minister stipulated that, “The referendum will not define the boundaries of the Kurdistan region.”
“This can only be achieved through serious dialogue with Baghdad,” he added.
Barzani, the nephew of the president, stressed that “the people of Kurdistan and the Kurds in particular do not want to impose our will on the populations and other ethnicities in this region – such as Arabs, Turkmens, Christians and all other components in various areas that are living within these borders.”
While Kurdistan’s referendum has met opposition from nearly every corner, the inclusion of the disputed areas claimed by both the regional and the central governments is particularly contentious. The disputed zones, including oil-rich Kirkuk, are ethnically diverse. Their status should have been resolved under Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which mandated a referendum to take place by 2007 asking the people living in these areas if they want to be part of the Kurdistan Region.
Kurdish officials advocating for holding the vote in these areas, which they call Kurdistani, note that the central government has failed to meet the constitution-imposed deadline.
Barzani told RT that the referendum is an entirely democratic process and it is up to the communities of Kirkuk, through their vote, to decide whether or not they want to be a part of the administrative region of Kurdistan in addition to dialogue with Iraq.
“We are not planning to impose one-sided or a unilateral solution to that of Kirkuk,” Barzani explained. “It is entirely left to the people of Kirkuk and special status and special arrangements have to be made for the administration of Kirkuk in future.”
Barzani said that if Kirkuk did decide to be a part of the Kurdistan administration in the future, then the province would enjoy its own self-administration and the status of the communities should be guaranteed and secured.
While outside of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) administration, much of the Kurdistani areas have been brought under Kurdish control by the Peshmerga during the war against ISIS. Kurdish officials say they have increased the territory under their control by as much as 40 percent.
RT asked Barzani if the KRG planned on trying to take more territory to include in an independent Kurdistan.
The prime minister explained that prior to the fall of Mosul in 2014, the KRG had offered Peshmerga assistance to protect Mosul, but then-prime minister Nouri al-Maliki refused their proposal and unfortunately Mosul fell into the hands of ISIS. Immediately after that, however, Maliki requested Peshmerga help to protect Kirkuk.
“Upon the request of then the PM, we had provided security and Peshmerga forces to Kirkuk and its immediate environment in order to protect this region from falling under the onslaught and attacks of ISIL [ISIS],” Barzani explained. “Had we not sent Peshmerga to those regions – perhaps the fate of Kirkuk would have been far worse from what had happened in Mosul.”
Barzani reiterated that the KRG will not impose anything and that the borders can only be defined through serious engagement with Baghdad.
The referendum is scheduled to be held on September 25.
