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Iraqi Kurdistan PM highlights results of
his discussions in Baghdad
28.6.2008
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June
28, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region "Iraq", —
Iraqi Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan
Barzani revealed that a committee was set up with
the Baghdad central government during his recent
visit to the Iraqi capital to settle the issue of
oil contracts as well as the oil & gas law.
"The committee formed during my visit to Baghdad is
composed of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki,
myself, Vice Presidents Tareq al-Hashimi and Adel
Abdul-Mahdi, Deputy Premier Dr Barham Saleh and Roz
Nouri Shawais, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic
Party (KDP)'s politburo," Barzani said during a
press conference in Erbil on Saturday.
"The committee, which will start its work next week,
aims to reach a solution for the issue of oil
contracts and the law on oil & gas," he added.
He underlined that the oil contracts "signed by the
government of Iraqi Kurdistan was a right granted by
the constitution." |
Nechirvan Barzani, Prime
Minister of
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) |
The Iraqi government had
refused to recognize the oil contracts signed by the
autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government with
foreign corporations to explore and invest oilfields
in the KRG's territories.
On the issues of Kurdistan Region Forces, or the
peshmerga in Kurdish,www.ekurd.net
and the means to merge
them into the Iraqi army in line with the Iraqi
armed forces' criteria, Barzani replied that a joint
committee was formed 18 months ago the settle the
issue of the peshmerga.
"The committee was composed of the U.S. and British
sides, the Iraqi defense ministry and a
representative of the KRG, but failed to reach a
final solution," the Kurdish premier explained.
The Baghdad government had declined to pay the
salaries of more than 190,000 peshmerga personnel
from the central defense ministry budget.
Asked on the issue of article 140 of the
constitution pertaining to normalization in Kirkuk,
Barzani said there was no "political orientation to
marginalize the article's application."
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
normalization in Kirkuk.
Kurds seek to include the Kurdish city into the
autonomous Iraq's Kurdistan region, while Sunni
Muslims, Turcomans and Shiites oppose the
incorporation. The article stipulates that all Arabs
in Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in
southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly
displaced residents returned to Kirkuk.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and it
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous
region, the population is a mix of majority Kurds
and minority of Arabs, Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds
have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to Kirkuk,
which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem."
The article also calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
These stages were supposed to end on December 31,
2007, a deadline that was later extended to six
months.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had forced over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up
their homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the
city and the region's oil industry.
Answering a question by VOI correspondent on his
position regarding the recent report by UN envoy
Staffan De Mistura,www.ekurd.net
Barzani replied that the
Iraqi government "was discontented with part of the
first report just like our government refused it and
would even refuse future reports if they came
similar to that one."
De Mistura had submitted a report in the form of
recommendations for the Iraqi government in early
June providing that four of the disputed areas would
under the administration of both the central and
Iraqi Kurdistan governments.
The report suggested that the districts of al-Hamdaniya
and Mandili come under the central government's
administration while the Kurds would be entitled to
run the districts of Makhmour and Aqra.
Copyright, respective author or news agency, VOI
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