Kurdistan Regional Government Spokesperson Safeen Dizayee (pictured) said that yesterday a KRG delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani and including Minister of Natural Resources Dr. Ashti Hawrami, Minister of Finance and Economy Rebaz Muhammad, and Spokesperson Safeen Dizayee, travelled to Ankara. The delegation held meetings with senior Turkish officials, discussing the cooperation agreement […]
By John Lee. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has rejected a statement by Abu Dhabi-listed Dana Gas to the effect that the London Court of International Arbitration had awarded the company the right to receive some outstanding payments from the Kurdish government. Dana Gas said on Sunday that its consortium with Crescent Petroleum and Pearl Petroleum […]
The KRG's Ministry of Housing and Reconstruction is currently building a dual carriageway connecting Erbil to Haji Omaran. Parts of the road, which include tunnels and bridges, do not pass through the old path known as Hamilton Road. After the project is completed, the road between Erbil and Haji Omaran will become a dual carriageway. […]
By John Lee. Kurdish politicians officially suspended their participation in the Iraqi government on Friday, as forces under their control seized two oilfields in northern Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has appointed temporary replacements for the five Kurdish ministers of the cabinet. Kurdish forces took over the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oilfields near Kirkuk; an […]
KRG statement on recent events at oil facilities and infrastructure in Makhmour district This morning, members of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Kirkuk Oil Protection Forces moved to secure the oil fields of Bai Hassan and the Makhmour area, after learning of orders by officials in the federal Ministry of Oil in Baghdad to […]
By Padraig O'Hannelly. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has upped the ante in the continuing dispute with Baghdad over oil export revenues. In response to what it describes as "the Iraqi federal government ... not sharing revenues in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution", the KRG has threatened to take legal action against anyone who buys […]
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) threatened on Wednesday to take legal action against buyers of Iraqi oil unless the autonomous region is paid its share of revenue from any sales. The full text of the statement from the KRG follows: Under Article 112 of the Iraqi Constitution, the Iraqi federal government is legally required to […]
The Head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations (DFR), Minister Falah Mustafa, received the new British Consul General to Kurdistan Region, Mr Angus McKee. During the meeting which was attended by Ms Siham Jabali, Assistant Head of the DFR, Minister Mustafa congratulated Mr McKee on his new posting and expressed the DFR’s readiness to […]
By John Lee. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) has expressed his support for Kurdish statehood, taking a position that appears to clash with the US preference to keep Iraq united. In a speech to a Tel Aviv thinktank on Sunday, Netanyahu called for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan as part of a broader […]
Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani visited the Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament yesterday, requesting the Parliament to immediately undertake the task of creating an independent electoral commission for the Region, and to begin preparations for holding a referendum for the people of Kurdistan to decide their future. In his remarks to the Parliament, the President urged Members […]
By John Lee. Iraq’s Supreme Court has turned down a request from oil minister Abdul Kareem al-Luaibi [Elaibi] to issue a temporary injunction against the Kurdistan Regional Government to prevent direct oil exports from the region. According to a report from Rudaw, the unanimous ruling prompted the KRG to declare victory in its dispute with Baghdad […]
By John Lee. Bloomberg reports that Iraqi Kurdistan will keep Peshmerga troops in the nearby oil hub of Kirkuk until people there can vote on whether to join the Kurdish enclave. Safeen Dizayee (pictured), spokesman of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), said: “As a people, we have the right to be independent, but the issue […]
