Al-Tayeb: The probability is low. And even if it is held soon, then the results probably won’t satisfy anyone. And this is because it seems that the State of Law bloc [led by current Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] is trying to consolidate its own power. For example, the Erbil Agreement says that the Ministry of Defence should be overseen by the opposition Iraqiya bloc and that the intelligence services should be run by the Kurdish. But that isn’t happening and it seems clear that the ruling party doesn’t want to implement those provisions of the Erbil Agreement.
NIQASH: What will happen if the conference does happen – what sort of arguments will the Kurdish present there?
Al-Tayeb: Our position is clear. We want the Iraqi Constitution applied and we want the Erbil Agreement, upon which this government was founded, to be implemented. However that would require a serious commitment from all parties. I am not sure that the conference would bring any such positive commitment.
NIQASH: Let’s talk about one of the other issues that Erbil and Baghdad have argued over – oil rights in Iraqi Kurdistan. Multinational oil company, Exxon Mobil, got in trouble with Baghdad for signing a deal with the Kurdish without getting permission from them first. And now Exxon are talking about selling their oil drilling rights in southern Iraq in order to, according to some sources, focus on oil exploration in Iraqi Kurdistan. Your thoughts?
Comments are closed.