'Kurdistan shouldn’t abandon Baghdad until borders drawn'

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – The Kurdistan Region should keep good relations with the Iraqi Federal Government until it completely draws its border, according to a Kurdish official on Friday.

On Jan. 31, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation, headed by Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, visited Baghdad and met many officials including Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi, President Fuad Masum, former prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, and leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) Ammar al-Hakim.

The delegation also met with British Ambassador to Iraq Frank Baker and US Ambassador Stuart Jones.

Kurdish Member of Parliament (MP) Adil Nouri told K24 on Friday that the KRG should always cooperate with Baghdad. He added that the Kurdistan Region should not distance itself from Baghdad until it “draws its border.”

“Late meetings are better than no meetings at all…The meetings have been positive, and we hope both sides will publicly announce what they agreed on soon,” Nouri said.

Additionally, Berivan Khailani, another Kurdish MP in Baghdad, stated that the recent visit of the KRG delegation to Baghdad was significant. She believes that both sides discussed almost all the deep-rooted problems between Erbil and Baghdad in their meetings.

Arez Abdulla, another Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament, stated that the meetings will have a positive impact towards resolving the tensions between the KRG and Iraqi Federal Government.

“Further meetings and negotiations will help address the issues between both sides,” Abdulla continued. “Resolving Erbil-Baghdad problems is in the interest of both governments which everyone in the country will benefit from.”

However, Sirwa Abdul-Wahid, a Kurdish MP in Baghdad, argued that the KRG has failed to rely on its plan in making an independent economy for the Region.

“If the KRG’s independent political economy were successful in exporting oil abroad, the delegation wouldn’t have been visiting Baghdad now,” she said. "The KRG has failed in its economic plan.”

Reporting by Mewan Dolamari
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany