The Kurdish parties do not seem ready to enter into a direct confrontation yet or to discuss a way to resolve the differences. Talabani’s PUK party blames the central government for the oil agreement between Baghdad and Erbil. Meanwhile, Barzani’s KDP party, which described the control of the North Oil Company as “provocative,” accused former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of “fabricating the Kirkuk oil crisis.”
KDP member of parliament Birwan Kilani said in a statement March 6, “Maliki was and still is seeking to thwart and weaken Abadi and hand over Iraqi provinces such as Ninevah to IS in order to achieve political and personal interests and fuel sectarianism and nationalism.”
She pointed out that Maliki is seeking to divide and weaken the Kurds, ignite a civil war and lead them to shed blood in order to gain power in the next elections.
Kilani’s statement might be based on the strong relationship between Talabani’s party and the Sulaimaniyah parties on the one hand and the Shiite circles in Baghdad on the other in light of Maliki’s visit July 19, 2016, to Sulaimaniyah. That visit stirred up a huge controversy among the Kurdish political parties, especially after Erbil accused Maliki of stopping the payment of Kurdistan staff salaries and imposing strict economic policies on the Kurds.
It is worth recalling that Baghdad only concluded an oil sharing agreement on Kirkuk crude with Erbil due to the unstable security situation in the south of the province and due to IS’ control of Hawija and nearby areas. Should these be liberated, the central government would return to transporting Kirkuk oil for export from Iraq's southern ports and would again control the Kirkuk oil export and extraction process.
This would be opposed by the KRG, which would seek to export the Kirkuk oil without going through the central government.
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