Kurds, Sunnis should form alliance against Baghdad: Sunni party leader

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Ayad al-Samarrai, on Sunday said the Kurds and Sunni Arabs in Iraq should form an alliance against the current Shia-led government in Baghdad.

Samarrai stated that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “has a special policy regarding the relationship with the Kurds and does not want anyone to interfere with it.”

Samarrai, who is the leader of the largest Sunni political bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, said he believes the “internal tensions in Kurdistan have made Abadi not urgent in resolving the differences with the Kurds.”

“I find it necessary that the Kurdish brothers work first to address the problems between them,” he said, calling on the Kurds to then “open the door for dialogue and understanding with the Sunni blocs.”

“The establishment of an alliance between the Sunnis and Kurds can be transformed into a national position that will change the equation to a large extent against the [Shia-led Iraqi government],” Samarrai affirmed.

According to the Iraqi Islamic Party leader, the crisis between Baghdad and Erbil was now limited to “one point,” which he said was the status of border crossings.

Tensions between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Iraqi government have considerably increased following Kurdistan’s Sep. 25 independence referendum.

The historic vote received widespread support for secession from Iraq, but Baghdad refused to recognize the results and instead responded by imposing collective punitive measures against Kurdistan, including the use of military force in disputed areas.

The KRG has shown its flexibility, offering to freeze the results of the referendum, but Baghdad demands a full annulment as well as the handover of airports and border crossings as a precondition for the start of negotiations.