Deputy Speaker: Time for Kurds to withdraw from Iraq’s political process

Negotiations and elections will not change Baghdad’s treatment toward the Kurdistan Region and it is time for the Kurds to decide on their future and withdraw from Iraq’s political process, a Kurdish official said on Saturday.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Negotiations and elections will not change Baghdad’s treatment toward the Kurdistan Region and it is time for the Kurds to decide on their future and withdraw from Iraq’s political process, a Kurdish official said on Saturday.

The Iraqi Parliament on Saturday approved the country’s controversial 2018 budget bill as Kurdish factions boycotted the session.

Over the past few months, Kurds have repeatedly asked Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to make changes to the bill, which has dropped the Kurdistan Region’s budget share from 17 to 12 percent. The draft legislation also made controversial changes in terminology, switching the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to the “provincial governments in northern Iraq.”

“The Kurds should have withdrawn from the political process in Iraq immediately a few years ago when Iraqi officials in Baghdad intentionally wanted to officially label Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution ‘null and void’ as they understood the importance of the article to Kurds,” Kurdistan Parliament's Deputy Speaker Jaafar Imniki told Kurdistan 24. The parliamentarian, along with a Kurdish delegation, recently visited Najaf to ask Shia clerics pressure Baghdad to change its treatments towards Kurdistan.

Article 140 is related to the disputed territories, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. The article requires the compensation and return of people who were forcibly displaced through systematic Arabization campaigns back to Kirkuk, and the holding of a referendum to determine whether the people want to be part of the Kurdistan Region or federal Iraq.

The deadline for the implementation of the article was Dec. 2007, but over a decade has since passed and the article remains unimplemented. The situation in disputed territories has significantly deteriorated after Baghdad’s military takeover last year following the Kurdistan’s referendum on independence held on Sep. 25.

Since the independence vote, Baghdad has implemented collective punitive measures against the people of the Kurdistan Region, including an international flights ban on the Region’s airports and the withholding of salaries owed to KRG public employees.

“I anticipate Baghdad would not alter the budget bill in accordance with Kurdish demands; They will not re-open the airports [in the Kurdistan Region]; Negotiations between Erbil and Baghdad will not succeed, and Baghdad will not send the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget, and even if they do send it, they will do it in a demeaning manner, against the people of the Kurdistan Region,” Iminiki said.

Now, it is time, even if it is late, for the Kurds to completely withdraw from the political process in Baghdad, the Kurdish Parliament's Deputy Speaker argued, stating it is not only his understanding but also that of all the Kurdish factions in the Iraqi Parliament that remaining in Baghdad would lead to nothing.

He mentioned the factions had agreed that the upcoming Iraqi parliamentary elections, new budget, and negotiations would not change anything. 

“It is better for Kurds to withdraw from Baghdad soon.”

The Kurdish leadership has repeatedly stated Baghdad treats the people of the Kurdistan Region as second-class citizens.

“There is no trust. We don’t trust Baghdad anymore. We’ve heard a lot of things from them, but unfortunately, they’re all empty promises. Nothing they have said has translated into actions,” Sleman Mohammed, a Kurdish resident of Erbil, previously told Kurdistan 24.

“We need to boycott the upcoming Iraqi elections,” said Duhok resident Dildar Aziz, during a live broadcast by Kurdistan 24. He then asked, “If the presence of Kurdish parties in Baghdad does not change the behavior of Iraqi officials toward the people of the Kurdistan Region, then why are we there at all?”

Editing by Nadia Riva