ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – There is an agreement between Erbil and Baghdad to hold “technical and professional” meetings to discuss their outstanding issues, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday evening, adding that political dialogue will take place at a later stage.
He said he has seen a “radical shift” in the KRG’s stance on contentious issues of the independence vote and the borders and there is now an agreement for initial “technical and professional” talks, Abadi told reporters as part of his weekly press conference.
The KRG has stated that the “referendum is over” and has called for dialogue on the issue federal authority over the borders, Abadi said, describing this as a “radical shift” in the KRG’s stance.
“But we want to confirm that referendum is illegal, that they will not go back to referendum again,” Abadi said.
Abdullah Zaidi, in charge of Kurdish affairs for the ruling National Alliance, told Rudaw that it is not enough for the KRG to state they “respect” the rulings of the Iraqi Federal Court that canceled the independence vote and ruled the constitution does not allow secession. He said the KRG has to state that it “commits” to the rulings.
Baghdad does not have a “conflict” with Erbil, Abadi stated, explaining that there are “disagreements” with the Kurdish government regarding the KRG border with the rest of Iraq.
He said the KRG has to withdraw to pre-2003 borders and the KRG’s international border strip has to be under “exclusive” Iraqi control.
He conceded though that the Iraqi constitution allows for both governments to jointly run international entry points such as the airports, something the KRG has said they agree to.
“There is a difference between the border strip and border entry points,” Abadi said.
The first visits between Baghdad and Erbil have already taken place.
A delegation from Iraq’s Interior Ministry recently visited the Kurdistan Region and discussed returning displaced Iraqis who have been sheltering in the Kurdistan Region. A KRG delegation from its Interior Ministry visited Baghdad on Monday and met with the Iraqi Interior Minister to discuss the flight ban, among other issues.
A member of the delegation told reporters on Tuesday evening that the Iraqi Minister of the Interior Baha al-Araji is expected to visit the Kurdistan Region soon on the invitation from his Kurdish counterpart Karim Sinjari.
Regarding the payment of state salaries in the Kurdistan Region, Abadi repeated that they are still conducting an audit of the payroll, a process that will “take some time.” He called on the KRG to cooperate with Baghdad on this, especially with the planning and finances ministries whom he said have a list of the KRG’s employees.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani, who recently returned from his Berlin visit where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, repeated last week that his government is ready to enter dialogue with the Government of Iraq on the basis of the Iraqi constitution.
Erbil is now ready to allow for joint administration of the border crossings, he said at the time.
“The Kurdistan Region is fully prepared from this day to form that joint administration at the airports, the border crossings, and solve that problem, according to the Iraqi constitution,” Barzani said.
He also confirmed last week that they are ready to hand over their updated list of employees for Baghdad to audit. But he doubted that Abadi means what he says.
Abadi claimed the KRG can pay the salaries itself on the basis of the reduced system with the current oil exports.
He said Erbil exported 270,000 bpd of oil in November – an amount he said is “more than enough,” to pay the salaries on time. He blamed corruption for the KRG’s failure with the salaries.
Erbil maintains that a continued budget cut by Iraq since 2014, as well as the loss of Kirkuk’s oil fields are the two primary reasons behind their failure to pay the salaries.
The KRG has 1.249 million on its payroll. Abadi claimed that equals half of the people on Baghdad’s payroll.
Regarding Kirkuk, which Iraqi forces took control of in mid-October, Abadi said he did not want to visit the city because he does not consider it a liberated area. He said he has visited every area liberated from ISIS by Iraqi forces.
He said he does not want to visit Kirkuk because he believes what happened in Kirkuk was imposing federal authority and was not “a military victory.”
In early December, Abadi was heavily criticized for saying that the military incursion into the disputed areas was no less than the victory over ISIS.
