Baghdad delegation to meet with Kurdish representatives in Erbil, discuss referendum: official

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Iraqi government officials are expected to meet with Kurdish representatives in Erbil next week to continue talks on the Kurdistan Region’s upcoming independence referendum, a negotiator said on Monday.

A Kurdish delegation visited Baghdad last week to discuss the matter with the Iraqi government. Abdullah al-Zaidi, a member of Baghdad's negotiating team, told Reuters a second round of negotiations could take place.

“[The Kurds] want guarantees,” Zaidi said. “That question has been left to the next round of talks.”

On Sunday, Mala Bakhtiar, the executive secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Politburo, said Kurdistan might consider postponing the referendum if Iraq offered financial and political assurances.

“The federal government should assist the Kurds in overcoming a financial crisis as well as settling debts owed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),” the PUK official told Reuters.

At the political level, Bakhtiar said Baghdad should resolve the issue with the disputed territories, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Meanwhile, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office released a statement denying the claims made by the Kurdish official alleging Baghdad would guarantee political and financial concessions for the Kurds to postpone the vote on independence.

The Kurds have been pursuing an independent nation since the end of the first World War, when colonial powers divided the Middle East, neglecting Kurdish land.

Iraq and neighboring countries Turkey and Iran, as well as the United States, have criticized the timing of the Sep. 25 referendum.

Washington has even suggested the vote might interfere with the ongoing fight against the Islamic State.

Despite their disapproval, the President of the Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani has reiterated there is no postponing the referendum.

Editing by G.H. Renaud