ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that technical talks between Erbil and Baghdad have reached a “high level” of satisfaction while insisting that his government is prepared to solve “all outstanding issues” with the Kurdistan Region, one day after both sides held high-level meetings in Erbil.
In an toned down message with regard to the strained relations with Erbil, Abadi said that the so-called efforts to impose federal authority over key institutions in the Kurdistan Region such as the airports does not mean he intends to violate Erbil’s political and administrative powers.
“We insist that the powers of the federal government are clear, and the powers of the Region and the provinces are clear,” Abadi said in his weekly press conference on Tuesday, in reference to Baghdad and Erbil’s different interpretations of the Iraqi constitution.
“Yes, we are with the fact that the federal authorities should carry out their roles in the Region, but at the same time we are with the protections of the legal and constitutional powers of the Region,” he added.
A senior Iraqi delegation visited Erbil on Monday and discussed with Kurdish officials a range of issues. The two sides reached a preliminary agreement that will effectively end the international flight ban imposed to and from the Kurdistan Region, and pave the way for an oil-for-budget arrangement. Baghdad has to give its final approval to the agreements before they come into effect.
Abadi said that based on the feedback he received from the two sides from the Monday talks, there was a “high level” satisfaction from both sides, and that the Kurdish officials were “very happy” in terms of the way the talks proceeded.
He acknowledged that relations between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq have been “bad, strained and good at times,” over different stages including since the foundation of Iraq a century ago, during the Baathist regime that committed genocide against the Kurdish population, and then again since the US invasion of Iraq.
“We aim to resolve all outstanding issues” with Erbil, Abadi said, as he explained this included all historical and recent issues: “no outstanding issues shall remain.”
The Kurdistan Region has long accused the government of Iraq for violating about one-third of the Iraqi constitution including on the KRG’s share of the budget cut by Baghdad since early 2014 because of Erbil’s plans to export oil to the international market.
Erbil claims Baghdad has violated 55 articles of the constitution, while the ruling Shiite National Alliance in Baghdad claims the KRG has committed 100 violations.
Iraq states that the Kurdistan Region must first allow Baghdad to take control of Kurdish oil exports before they resume sending the budget to the cash-strapped Region.
Abadi stated again that the KRG has to be transparent over the production of oil and its revenues, just hours before Erbil published verified financial reports of oil sector for the first half of 2017. The report conducted by Deloitte, one of the world’s largest financial firms, stated that they found no “misstatements” in KRG’s oil productions, consumption, and sales for the stated period.
Amanj Rahim, a senior KRG official, said on Monday that their talks with Iraqi officials from the oil ministry concluded with a blueprint agreement with regard to the Kurdish oil, pending Abadi’s approval.
"The agenda of the meeting was about setting a mechanism for exporting oil from the oil fields of the [Kurdistan] Region in return for the financial and fuel entitlements of the Region," Amanj Rahim, the secretary of the KRG Council of Ministers, said.
Abadi restated that Baghdad is committed to an audit process of the Kurdish state employees, to be followed by a resumption of their salaries, cut by the federal government since early 2014.
The KRG plagued by an ongoing financial crisis, mainly because of budget cut by Baghdad, finds it difficult to pay the salaries of its employees on time or in full, especially after the loss of the oil fields in Kirkuk province after an Iraqi military incursion in October 2017, just weeks after the Kurdistan Region’s vote on independence.
