Iraqi MP: Baghdad does not have power to negotiate Kurdistan independence

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdistan independence is “a dangerous issue,” a senior Iraqi MP from the ruling Islamic Dawa Party, and who also held the position of national security adviser for five years, told Rudaw TV on Saturday night. He added that Baghdad does not have the right to negotiate with the Kurdish delegation formed on this matter since only the Iraqi people have the right to resolve this constitutional matter through a referendum.

 

"I think there is no party in Baghdad who can negotiate with a delegation from Kurdistan, nor do they have full powers in the negotiation,” Mowaffak al-Rubaie said. “I mean the Iraqi government does not have the power to negotiate in this dangerous issue which is called the independence of Kurdistan,” he added. 

 

The Islamic Dawa Party, a main component of the powerful State of Law Coalition, is led by the former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The party holds the current prime ministerial position with Haider al-Abadi, who is also the commander-in-chief. 

 

In early January, representatives from Kurdistan’s two major parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) discussed the formation of a new committee that would be tasked with talking with Baghdad about Kurdish independence, a referendum, and Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution which concerns the so-called disputed areas like Kirkuk and areas near Mosul.

 

The committee will visit Baghdad in the near future, senior party officials told Rudaw on Saturday. 

 

Following the US-led invasion of the country, Iraqis, including the Kurdish people, voted for a new constitution overwhelmingly with some 78-percent in favor.

 

“Even the Iraqi parliament, which is the [projection] of Iraq's sovereignty, do not have such powers [to negotiate],” Rubaie noted. “The Iraqi people hold this power through a referendum, all of Iraqi people, not the people of Kurdistan alone, because Arabs and Kurds entered a social political contract in late 2005, and it is called the Iraqi constitution. We [all] signed on it, and more than 70-percent of our people voted for it. Therefore, we need a second vote to assign a particular party to negotiate with the Kurdistan Region.”

 

He said though that he agrees with the Kurds’ right to self-determination, just like any other nation on earth. 

 

Kurdish President Masoud Barzani told Rudaw in a joint interview, in which he said that his government has not given up on independence, said that the Iraqi government did not commit to the constitution.

 

“Unfortunately, there are some people who neither read the constitution nor remember it,” Barzani said. “The Iraqi constitution stipulates that the integrity of the country relies on commitment to the constitution. This constitution has been ditched for a while. They don’t commit to it and they don’t work on its basis.”

 

Barzani had emphasized that the KRG will continue to exhaust its path of dialogue with Baghdad, so that Kurdistan isn’t forced to take other steps, adding that he had discussed this issue with the central government in his visit to the Iraqi capital. 

 

“But we will certainly take other steps if we lose hope in this (dialogue with Baghdad),” Barzani said. “We will not give up on this process. We can be good neighbors with the future Iraq. We were, however, unable to be good partners. This is the reality and those who do not recognize this, do not want to see the truth.”

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a top Kurdish delegation to Baghdad in August that his government will not work against a referendum and sees self-determination as an “undisputed right.”

 

It is not clear though whether Abadi, like Rubaie, would call for a nationwide referendum, or a referendum in the Kurdish areas, including Kirkuk which is currently outside the official borders of Kurdistan Region, but claimed by the Kurdish government.

 

Mowaffak al-Rubaie warned that all past examples from undeveloped countries point to the fact that independence and secession lead to wars, providing South Sudan, the youngest state in the world, as an example. 

 

He cautioned Kurdish officials of the regional implications if Kurdistan were to take independence seriously, which he said seems like a distraction mechanism, to shift the focus from the current war against ISIS and the financial crisis that has plagues both Iraq and Kurdistan. 

 

Rubaie said independence would affect neighboring Iran, Syria and Turkey, where Kurds have sizable populations. 

 

“This is not the right time to discuss this,” he noted, instead advocating for focusing on the ongoing war against ISIS militants, where Iraqi and Peshmerga forces have partnered to expel the extremist group from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.