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Kurdistan sets time limit on power-sharing
negotiations with Iraq
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Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the KRG’s Department of
Foreign Relations. Photo: bps.org
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September 18, 2014
ERBIL-Hewlêr, Kurdistan region 'Iraq',—
Kurdistan’s semiautonomous government is giving
Iraq’s new leadership three months to negotiate a
new power-sharing agreement with Erbil, or see it
move forward with an independence bid, the region’s
de facto foreign minister said in an interview.
Such a bid by the Kurdistan Regional Government
would pose a major challenge to the Obama
administration’s strategy to stabilize Iraq and push
back the territorial gains made by the Islamic State
terrorist organization in recent months.
The White House has pressed the Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni
and Kurdish communities to unify behind the Islamist
militants under new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The U.S. has also made the Kurdish military forces,
called the Peshmerga, a cornerstone of its military
strategy against Islamic State.
“This is the last opportunity that is there” to
forge a power-sharing deal, said Falah Mustafa Bakir,
head of the KRG’s Department of Foreign Relations.
“Baghdad has the opportunity to show it has the
political will, and to show us we are all equal
partners.”
The core issues Erbil and Baghdad need to find
common ground on include the KRG’s demand to control
its oil exports; the funding of the Peshmerga; the
status of disputed territorieswww.Ekurd.net
like the Kirkuk region; and the allocation of
resources from the central government.
Mr. Abadi, a Shiite politician, has pledged to mend
ties with Iraq’s Sunni and Kurdish regions after
succeeding Nouri al-Maliki, who was accused of
pursuing sectarian policies benefiting Iraq’s Shiite
majority.
Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S.
officials have pressed Mr. Abadi to quickly reach
agreement with Erbil and Iraq’s Sunni leaders. But
Mr. Bakir said it was too early to tell if the new
Iraqi leader would significantly change the policies
of his predecessor.
“We have some positive elements,” the Kurdish
diplomat said. “These are not issues that are
unsolvable.
Mr. Bakir also pressed the international community
to provide the KRG with more heavy weaponry, such as
tanks, helicopters and Humvees.
“The needs for being on the offensive are different
from being on the defensive,” he said, in between
meetings in Washington with State Department, White
house and congressional officials.
By Jay Solomon - WSJ
Copyright ©, respective author or news agency,
wsj.com
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