ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani said in comments published Saturday that Baghdad’s act of cutting Kurdistan’s budget is “as bad as the gassing of Halabja -- if not worse.”
Speaking in an interview with the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, he cautioned that Kurdistan may at some point have no choice but to make critical, game-changing decisions.
“If our efforts with Baghdad do not bear results, then Kurdistan will be forced to rely on its own revenue, and in that case everything will change,” he warned.
Barzani reiterated that Erbil abides by the Iraqi constitution and would do its best to solve all disputes with the federal government through dialogue and understanding.
He said that the United States is now mediating between Erbil and Baghdad, and that the Kurds will await the outcome of these talks.
Relations between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments have been full of tension at the best of times, particularly since the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011.
Despite endless meetings between Kurdish and Iraqi officials to agree on a mechanism for oil exports and revenue sharing, Baghdad has continuously objected to Erbil’s oil policies and its deals with foreign companies.
In February, Iraq’s finance ministry decided to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget, placing a strain on the Kurdish government’s finances, especially its ability to pay civil servants’ salaries.
The suffering endured by common people moved Barzani to liken Baghdad’s budget freeze to the 1988 poison-gas attack by ousted dictator Saddam Hussein on Halabja, which killed 5,000 people.
Barzani has blamed Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Maliki for the budget freeze, accusing him of not believing in power-sharing. “Otherwise, the disagreements have nothing to do with oil and gas which could be easily solved,” he has said.
Responding to recent accusations by Iraqi deputy prime minister for energy affairs, Hussein Shahristani, that the Kurds were stealing Iraqi oil, Barzani said that Iraq is the real culprit for exporting oil from Kirkuk, which lies in the so-called “disputed territories” claimed by both sides.
“Without Kirkuk’s oil there would have been no such thing as the state of Iraq,” Barzani declared.
In the same interview with al-Hayat, Barzani criticized Maliki’s response to the death of Iraqi journalist Muhammad Bidaiwi, who was shot dead by a Kurdish presidential guard in Baghdad last month.
Barzani deplored Maliki’s use of the phrase “blood for blood” after the incident. “The journalist’s killing was condemned and the perpetrator would receive his punishment, but it is regrettable that the prime minister speaks that way,” Barzani said.
“Who is then responsible for the blood of 400 university professors who have been killed in Iraq in the past few years?” Barzani said in reference to Bidaiwi, who was also a university professor in Baghdad. “Who is responsible for the victims of Halabja, Anfal and 8,000 Barzanis? We have closed the chapter of revenge and no need to resort to that kind of language.”
