"Council members noted that the federal and regional governments have both expressed willingness to engage in dialogue," said France’s Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre. He holds the council’s presidency this month.
"We encourage them to expeditiously set a timetable to hold these discussions," Delattre told reporters after a closed-door meeting of the Security Council that heard a report on recent confrontations between Kurdish and Iraqi forces from the UN’s Iraq envoy Jan Kubis.
Delattre said the Security Council was concerned about increased tensions and reported violence and called on all sides to end the use of force.
He believes the UN could facilitate talks, if asked, reiterating an earlier offer from Kubis. Talks would be a “pathway to de-escalation and a means to preserve Iraqi unity,” said Delattre.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had earlier said he was “disappointed that the parties have been unable to reach an entirely peaceful resolution.”
He revealed that in his recent meetings with Iraq’s leader, “I encouraged Prime Minister Abadi to accept Erbil’s overtures for talks on the basis of the Iraqi constitution.”
Arguing against what would be a devastating war between Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) issued a statement Wednesday morning making three proposals: the cessation of fighting in the Kurdistan Region; freezing the outcome of the independence referendum; and beginning dialogue with the federal government on the basis of the Iraqi constitution.
While the United Nations and United States are gently prodding Baghdad towards talks, Abadi has spent recent days with Turkish and Iranian leaders who have backed his hardline stance against the Kurds.
Abadi was in Tehran on Thursday where Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei said that he “supports the measures of the Iraqi government aimed to protect its full authority and territorial integrity.”
A day earlier the Iraqi leader was in Ankara. He thanked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim for their continued support as they discussed cooperating over security, border control, and trade.
Bolstered by the regional support, Abadi said he would accept nothing less from Erbil than full cancellation of the referendum result before sitting down for talks.
