Since March 2013, the Kurdish Coalition had been boycotting
the central government. This was the result of on-going disputes over the 2013
budget, and the country’s oil policy. Recently the two sides came to a new
agreement that allowed the Kurdish ministers and lawmakers to return to
Baghdad. The deal was roundly criticized, because it gained no immediate
benefits for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The reason why the
Kurdish list agreed to return to office with none of its demands met was that it
was gaining nothing from its absence, and simply wanted a face saving device to
end its boycott.
New Baghdad-Irbil agreement was announced after PMs Barzani
and Maliki met (pmo.iq)
In May 2013, Kurdistan announced that it had come to a new
deal with Baghdad. This came after several delegations from the two sides met
including one from the National Alliance in April that went to the KRG, followed by Kurdish Premier Nechirvan Barzani meeting with members of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law in Iran, which allegedly played a
mediating role, and then a meeting between the two premiers in Baghdad. That
resulted in a seven-point agreement that included drafting a bill to compensate
victims of Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign, the creation of a joint security
committee between Irbil and Baghdad, another committee to deal with security in
the disputed areas that includes the Tigris Operations Command, following
through with the draft law made by President Jalal Talabani that would redraw
the country’s provincial borders, create a third committee to look into
judicial, custom, travel, and border crossing issues, amend the 2013 budget,
and work on passing the hydrocarbon legislation. These are all
long-standing disputes that Kurdistan has had with the central government.
Maliki has recently been pushing on several of these fronts as well to gain
support of Sunnis over the disputed territories for instance, and to hinder the
KRG’s independent oil policy. The two sides have agreed to make-up for now. It
could also lead to a new deal that would allow the Kurds to export through the
northern pipeline to Turkey again.
The Kurdish Coalition started boycotting the central
government in March 2013 over the new budget. It was passed when the list was not in parliament, and only included a few million for the compensation of oil
companies operating in Kurdistan, instead of the billions that it had
requested. The Kurds then withdrew their ministers and lawmakers in
protest. This caused divisions between the Kurdish parties with the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, the Change List, and the Kurdistan Islamic Union all
voicing their criticism of the decision, which was led by President Massoud Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The central and regional
governments have been arguing over who has control over the country’s petroleum
policy for years. The Kurds believe they have the right to develop and export
oil on their own, while Baghdad demands that it have control. This has led to
the central government calling the KRG’s oil deals illegal, and a series of
short-term export deals, which constantly break down. That boiled over into the
2013 budget where Maliki refused to give into the Kurdish Coalition’s demands,
and caused their subsequent boycott.
The new agreement has been widely criticized by Kurdish
politicians and analysts. A member of the Kurdish Coalition said that he didn’t expect much from the new deal. Another Kurdish parliamentarian was quoted
as saying that this was just a way for Maliki to relieve some pressure on
himself, and that the KRG should have pushed Maliki to implement the 2010
agreement instead of coming up with a new one. In return for the Kurds’
support for the premier’s second term after the 2010 elections, Maliki agreed
to their 19-points, which included passage of the oil law, resolving the
disputed territories, amongst other issues. Tamim’s governor expressed
skepticism that Baghdad would follow through with the latest agreement, and
said that a deadline should have been given to the prime minister to implement
the deal, while the Change List’s public relations department stated that the negotiations
were only made to renew exports, and help out the oil companies in the region.
Finally, the head of the Iraqi Group for Strategic Studies told Reuters that he was sure that the new deal would breakdown as soon as Maliki felt like it. With so many questions regarding the relationship between Baghdad and Irbil it
raises the issue of why the Kurdish Coalition would go along with a new
agreement. The fact was the boycott was achieving nothing. The Kurdish list has
neither the ministers nor lawmakers to stop the government from doing its work.
Maliki for example, was going about his business, and even put the Kurdish
ministers on leave, and talked about naming their temporary replacements. The
whole point of the talks then was to find a face saving means for the Kurds to
return to the government.
Both the central and regional governments had reason to come
to terms. The Kurdish Coalition was looking for a way to go back to Baghdad
without appearing to have given in to the prime minister. Maliki on the other
hand, has been facing pressure from the Sunni protests, and wanted to take care
of the Kurdish dispute, so that he could focus upon the demonstrations. In the
short-term the Kurds may be able to officially export again if further talks
take place, but in the long-term this is just one of many agreements, which
will likely breakdown eventually. The differences between the two run deep, and
neither has been willing to hold any meaningful discussions about resolving
them. This is a shortcoming of the current political leadership, which sees
everything in zero sum terms, and is therefore unwilling to make any worthwhile
compromises as a result.
SOURCES
Ahmed, Hevidar, “Erbil-Baghdad
Meeting Eases Months of Explosive Tensions,” Rudaw, 5/7/13
Barznjy, Hiwa, “stay or go? iraq’s
kurdish MPs debate leaving govt. again,” Niqash, 4/4/13
Gharib, Sirwan, “Kurdish plan ignored as crisis continues,”
Niqash, 9/2/10
Al-Kadhimi, Mustafa, “KRG Prime
Minister Breaks Ice in Baghdad,” Al-Monitor, 5/2/13
Krohn, Jonathan, “Amid Crisis,
Erbil-Baghdad Talks Fail to Deliver,” Rudaw, 5/1/13
National Iraqi News Agency,
“Breaking News--- Maliki awards leave for Kurds’ ministers,” 4/7/13
- “Nechirvan Barzani: Kurdish
ministers, lawmakers ended their boycott to Cabinet, Parliament,” 5/1/13
Ninanews, “Kurdistan rules out withdrawal from Iraqi govt,
disagreement between KDP and PUK,” 3/11/13
Rasheed, Ahmed and Coles, Isabel,
“Iraq-Kurd oil talks break ice, long-term fix unlikely,” Reuters, 5/7/13
Shafaq News, “Kurdistan alliance
pessimistic from forming committees between Erbil and Baghdad,” 5/5/13
- “Kurdistan reveals Barzani –
Maliki seven-point agreement,” 5/4/13
Zebari, Abdel Hamid, “Iraq:
Shiite Delegation Seeks To Build Ties With Kurds,” Al-Monitor, 4/5/13
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