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LONDON – The recent re-designation of the Facebook page of the British Consulate-General raised eyebrows amongst friends of the Kurdistan Region who were worried that dropping mention of the Kurdistan Region signalled a change in policy.
Conservative MP, Jack Lopresti, who is the Chairman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, tabled a written parliamentary question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the issue.
The question asks: What the reasons are for changing the name of the British Consulate General in the Kurdistan region to the British Consulate General Erbil on his Department's Facebook page; and what his policy is on UK relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Lopresti commented: “The British Consulate-General in the Kurdistan Region, which also covers northern Iraq outside Kurdistan, is a vital link between the people of the Kurdistan Region and the UK. It provides British ministers with expertise and evidence on events in the Kurdistan Region. I have no doubt about the professionalism and dedication of its staff who I have met on the three occasions I have visited Kurdistan since 2015.”
But I was worried that this change indicates some sort of change in policy towards the constitutional status and rights within the Iraqi constitution of the KRG. It coincides with moves by leaders in Baghdad to diminish the status of the KRG in theory and in practice. I felt it was necessary, therefore, to ask the Foreign Office to formally explain the change and to make a wider statement on its views on the status of the KRG.”
The existence of the Consulate-General was endangered by budget cuts in 2010 but was reprieved thanks in part to pressure from the APPG although the Consulate-General in Basra was closed. The ministerial answer is expected in the near future.
Lopresti is also tabling a cross-party Commons motion which expresses “relief that there has been no armed conflict between the Iraqi Army, its associated Shia militia and the Kurdistan Regional Government's Peshmerga for some weeks but is disappointed that the federal government in Baghdad has so far refused all the reasonable requests from the KRG, supported by various foreign governments, for calm dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.”
The motion “regrets the continuation by Baghdad of several measures of collective punishment against the people of the KRG, including a ban on international flights, a proposed and draconian reduction in federal fiscal transfers according to the constitution and agreements, and the failure to provide sufficient medicines, especially dangerous given the onset of winter, to the KRG despite its continuing to host more than a million Sunni Arabs who fled from Mosul and 183,000 Kurds and others who fled from Kirkuk and other disputed territories following the needless and violent Iraqi seizure of those lands in October.”
The motion accepts that “the KRG's airports are vital to the basic needs of Kurds, including emergency medical evacuation of civilians, and the KRG's view that these embargoes could severely damage expatriate interest and foreign direct investment that has created thousands of jobs whose loss could generate a rapid rise in emigration.”
Its conclusion is that Iraq should cease its “futile search for a vindictive victor's peace in favour of dialogue based on the full implementation of the Iraqi constitution, which underpins Iraq as a free union of Kurds, Arabs and others.”
The motion is also backed by Labour MP Mary Glindon and Conservative MP Robert Halfon.
Conservative MP, Jack Lopresti, who is the Chairman of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, tabled a written parliamentary question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the issue.
The question asks: What the reasons are for changing the name of the British Consulate General in the Kurdistan region to the British Consulate General Erbil on his Department's Facebook page; and what his policy is on UK relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Lopresti commented: “The British Consulate-General in the Kurdistan Region, which also covers northern Iraq outside Kurdistan, is a vital link between the people of the Kurdistan Region and the UK. It provides British ministers with expertise and evidence on events in the Kurdistan Region. I have no doubt about the professionalism and dedication of its staff who I have met on the three occasions I have visited Kurdistan since 2015.”
But I was worried that this change indicates some sort of change in policy towards the constitutional status and rights within the Iraqi constitution of the KRG. It coincides with moves by leaders in Baghdad to diminish the status of the KRG in theory and in practice. I felt it was necessary, therefore, to ask the Foreign Office to formally explain the change and to make a wider statement on its views on the status of the KRG.”
The existence of the Consulate-General was endangered by budget cuts in 2010 but was reprieved thanks in part to pressure from the APPG although the Consulate-General in Basra was closed. The ministerial answer is expected in the near future.
Lopresti is also tabling a cross-party Commons motion which expresses “relief that there has been no armed conflict between the Iraqi Army, its associated Shia militia and the Kurdistan Regional Government's Peshmerga for some weeks but is disappointed that the federal government in Baghdad has so far refused all the reasonable requests from the KRG, supported by various foreign governments, for calm dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad.”
The motion “regrets the continuation by Baghdad of several measures of collective punishment against the people of the KRG, including a ban on international flights, a proposed and draconian reduction in federal fiscal transfers according to the constitution and agreements, and the failure to provide sufficient medicines, especially dangerous given the onset of winter, to the KRG despite its continuing to host more than a million Sunni Arabs who fled from Mosul and 183,000 Kurds and others who fled from Kirkuk and other disputed territories following the needless and violent Iraqi seizure of those lands in October.”
The motion accepts that “the KRG's airports are vital to the basic needs of Kurds, including emergency medical evacuation of civilians, and the KRG's view that these embargoes could severely damage expatriate interest and foreign direct investment that has created thousands of jobs whose loss could generate a rapid rise in emigration.”
Its conclusion is that Iraq should cease its “futile search for a vindictive victor's peace in favour of dialogue based on the full implementation of the Iraqi constitution, which underpins Iraq as a free union of Kurds, Arabs and others.”
The motion is also backed by Labour MP Mary Glindon and Conservative MP Robert Halfon.
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