Kurdistan
PUK co-chair Bafel Talabani (centre right) at the political bureau, alongside foreign representatives in the Kurdistan Region, on April 28, 2022. Photo: Bafel Talabani/Facebook
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) will obstruct the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) plans to export the Region’s natural gas if the process is not conducted “transparently”, according to a statement from the party’s co-chair on Thursday, adding that they will not allow any party to prioritise their own gain over the people of the Kurdistan Region.
Bafel Talabani, co-chair of the PUK, on Thursday met with a number of consul generals and diplomats in Erbil, to discuss the exportation of the Region’s natural gas and the latest developments in the issues relating to Sulaimani’s financial situation and the Region’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
Heavily dominated by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the KRG in recent years has taken steps towards exporting the Region’s natural gas to Europe through the development of a pipeline that would connect the Region to Turkey. Although experts believe that the project will take years to be fully implemented, the KRG could present itself as a strong alternative as the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia has led many countries to seek an alternative for Russian gas and oil.
The two rival Kurdish political parties have been in conflict for decades over a variety of issues. The latest edition comes in the form of a disagreement over plans to export the Region’s natural gas and the subsequent division of its lucrative income.
“The contract and its method must be explained to the people of the Kurdistan Region… The case should be worked on transparently and Kurdish people are a part of this process. Any efforts outside these requests, I announce clearly and publicly, they will have to export gas pipelines over Bafel Jalal Talabani’s dead body,” Talabani said in a statement.
Faraidun Abdulqadir, former member of the PUK politburo, told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman earlier on Thursday that the current plans would see the natural resource income in the areas under the PUK’s administration greatly reduced, especially in Sulaimani, based on what he gathered from a conversation about the issue with Talabani on Wednesday. He added that Talabani is extremely dissatisfied, as he has attempted to reach an agreement with the KDP on numerous occasions to no avail.
“I’m only telling you what Mr. Bafel [Talabani] told me yesterday: If one party wants to do that alone and not account for the other party, from what I understand, the other party will sabotage it,” Abdulqadir said, referring to the KDP’s intention to reduce PUK’s share from the income that will be produced from the natural gas exportation.
Abdulqadir added that the two parties must put aside their political interests for the sake of the Region’s greater good, believing that head of the KDP Masoud Barzani is the only individual capable of resolving the current disagreement.
“Mr. Masoud [Barzani] must do that [to resolve the issue]… Because we have no one else to turn to unify our nation,” said Abdulqadir, who enjoys a good relationship with the KDP leader, adding that he personally remains optimistic and that all doors remain open for an agreement, but it will undeniably come with its hardships.
In Thursday's meeting, Talabani also addressed the recent financial crisis in Sulaimani province and its complications, stating that they will not remain quiet towards “the unlawful” and “exploitative” wasting of the general income, and that reaching into people’s livelihoods was their “red line.”
On Thursday morning, Ziad Jabar, head of the PUK bloc in the Kurdistan Region parliament, claimed that in February, 78 billion Iraqi Dinars from Sulaimani’s income, that was supposed to be used to pay the salaries of people in the province, has been used by the KRG to pay off its own debts.
“This is proof that you want to punish Sulaimani,” said Jabar, as the province continues to experience great financial difficulties in recent months.
The KDP responded to Jabar’s accusations by releasing a statement of their own on Thursday. “Out of the Region’s 295 billion Iraqi Dinars internal income, Sulaimani’s income is only 78 billion Iraqi Dinars! According to the Region’s financial ratio system, the province should be making around 130 billion. Meaning that 40% of Sulaimani’s income is missing on a monthly basis, which is around 55 billion,” the statement said.
In another matter discussed in the meeting, the PUK co-chair claimed that most Kurdish political parties agree that the election laws must be amended before the upcoming Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections, adding that the election laws were not the “property” of any parties and that they “must be issued based on agreements and national consensus.”
The PUK have the support of the Change Movement (Gorran), the Kurdistan Justice Party (Komal), and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) in this, who also argue that the current commission and election laws are outdated and need amending. However, they face opposition from the KDP, who say that amending the laws requires an agreement of all the parliamentary blocs.
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in February issued a decree setting the date for the Region’s parliamentary election to October 1, 2022.
Last October, PM Barzani said that it is his agenda to make use of all the natural resources available in the Kurdistan Region, including natural gas. He said that his cabinet has been able to increase natural gas production since its inauguration in summer 2019. “We hope that within the next two years this will double.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in February that his country is holding meetings with Iraqi authorities to strike a “win-win” deal to import Iraq’s natural gas, adding that Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani has promised to facilitate the talks.
In February, oil and economy expert Govand Sherwani told Rudaw that around 450 thousand cubic feet of natural gas were produced in the Kurdistan Region in 2021.
“The Kurdistan Region could hold as much as 200 tcf [trillion cubic feet] (5.67 tcm [trillion cubic meters]) of natural gas reserves, representing between 1.5% and 3% of the world's total reserves,” according to the Region’s natural resources ministry.
The UK Consul General to Erbil David Hunt, who attended Thursday’s meeting with Talabani, told Rudaw on Tuesday that he hoped energy companies would get involved in the development of the Region's gas sector in as "environmentally friendly" way as possible, supporting the Kurdistan Region’s plans to export gas to European countries.
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