|
Israel not working for Iraqi Kurdistan
independence: foreign minister
1.7.2014
Reuters |
|
|
|
|
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Berlin
June 30, 2014. Photo: Reuters
•
See Related Articles
July 1, 2014
JERUSALEM, Israel,— Israeli Foreign Minister
Avigdor Lieberman described Iraqi Kurdish
independence as a fait accompli on Monday but said
his country was taking no action to help the Kurds
achieve formal statehood.
The remarks appeared aimed at heading off potential
confrontation with the United States, which wants to
keep Iraq united, after Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday
called for support for the emergence
of a Kurdish state.
Netanyahu's remarks drew no response from the
autonomous Kurdistan government in northern Iraq,
which has seized on the country's sectarian chaos to
expand into oil-rich new territory but remains wary
of declaring full independence.
Washington wants Iraq united - a message U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry relayed last week in a
visit to Kurdish leaders whom he urged political
accommodation with Baghdad.
"Iraq's future depends on the people who live there
and Israel has no interest in getting involved in
order to advance this-or-that solution, nor to give
advice," Foreign Minister Lieberman said in Berlin,
according to his spokesman.
Lieberman added that "the reality, as it now
appears, is that an independent Kurdish state
already exists, de facto".
The Kurds, who today number some 30 million in Iraq,
Syria, Iran and Turkey, have maintained discreet
military, intelligence and business ties with Israel
since the 1960s. The Israelis see in the minority
ethnic group a buffer against shared Arab foes.
"We should...support the Kurdish aspiration for
independence," Netanyahu said in his speech to a Tel
Aviv security forum on Sunday, after outlining what
he described as the collapse of Iraq amid spreading
strife between Arab Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
"DRAWING FIRE"
The Kurds, Netanyahu added, "are a fighting people
that has proved its political commitment, political
moderation, and deserves political independence".
Asked on Monday if Israel was lobbying abroad for a
Kurdish state, or if Israel had received word from
the Kurds that they were planning to declare
independence, an Israeli official close to Netanyahu
told Reuters: "I don't want to go beyond what the
prime minister said."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Israel had no
immediate comment on Netanyahu's remarks.
AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel U.S. lobby, was not
helping to promote prospective Kurdish statehood to
the Obama administration, a Washington source said.
In what signalled a deepening of ties, Israel on
June 20 took its first delivery of disputed oil from
Iraqi Kurdistan's new pipeline, which runs through
NATO-power Turkey. The United States disapproveswww.Ekurd.net
of
such go-it-alone Kurdish exports.
Alon Liel, a former Israeli envoy to Turkey,
interviewed on Israel Radio, said the statements
about Kurdish independence by leading politicians
risked harming the Kurds' interests by "drawing Arab
fire".
By Dan Williams - Reuters
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
Reuters
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
