Without real leaders in Baghdad and Erbil, no regional stability

At the presidential palace in Vilnius, on October 12, I asked Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė for her opinion on Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum and the future of Iraq following the parliamentary election in May.

‘The Iron Lady’ replied very carefully and sensitively in front of representatives of 58 European, American, Asian and African television channels.

I found her answer interesting when she linked the Kurdistan Region’s referendum with the presence of Kurds on border areas of Iran, Turkey and Syria as an excuse not to support the democratic processes of the Kurdistani nation.

Lithuania declared independence in March 1990, which was supported by NATO but drew an attack by the Soviet Union’s army. Unlike other countries, Lithuania puts the NATO flag next to its own.

However, due to the international community not being committed to espoused principles and commitments to the global charter of human rights, making such a decision in the Kurdistan Region always depends on regional sensitivities.

Connecting the Kurdistan Region through its natural resources with the economic interests of multinational corporations was a smart move. These tangible measures along with Peshmerga forces protected the Kurdistan Region and peoples’ lives more than whatever legal and constitutional covers it could argue. This consideration has now become an important part in the region’s economic process.

On October 16, 2017, a military, economic, and political attack was launched to dissolve the entity of the Kurdistan Region altogether and dishonor Erbil. An attack like this toppled the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad last century and halted the Kurdish revolutions in 1975 and 1988.

But this time the government didn’t collapse. Rather, the Kurdistan Region got back to relative normality in six months. Impartial Kurdistani and foreign analysts have credited Kurdistan Regional Government PM Nechirvan Barzani for this.

Grybauskaitė acknowledged the situation in Iraq, Libya and Syria is very difficult so they should be helped and stabilized. Thus, the world knows Iraq is currently unstable and stability in Iraq requires cooperation between Erbil and Baghdad.

This was put on full display at the start of the ISIS conflict. Alone the Iraqi Security Forces couldn’t recapture the town of Baiji in eight months.

Then, President of the Kurdistan Region and Commander-in-Chief of Peshmerga Masoud Barzani decided Kurdish forces would help the Iraqi army. Only then could Mosul — where ISIS declared its caliphate — be recaptured. Barzani’s contributions to the defeat of ISIS in Iraq were historic and heroic.

This proved coordination between Baghdad and Erbil is the only way to bring about real stability and prevent the regional spread of terror.

International acknowledgment of the importance of good relations between Erbil and Baghdad is why the recent telephone call between French President Emmanuel Macron, KRG PM Nechirvan Barzani and Iraqi PM-designate Adil Abdul-Mahdi on urgently forming strong governments in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq was meaningful.

After Macron became president, France started to play an effective and leadership role in the region diplomatically and militarily.

The world, the region, Iraq, and the Kurdistan Region, look to Nechirvan Barzani and Adil Abdul-Mahdi as moderates and problem-solvers, to prevent the reemergence of ISIS, and change political life from slogans to stability, economic development and the improvement of peoples’ living conditions.

They both want to live up to local and foreign expectations; therefore, having them as prime minister in the Kurdistan Region and in Iraq is vital in a region continually plagued by tensions.