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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A divided Kurdistan Region will continue to enable Baghdad to rule over the Region and a united Region is needed to ensure “decent” discussions, a British MP said on Tuesday.
“That is an unfortunate fact, that whilst Kurdistan is divided, Baghdad will continue to be able to rule. We need a strong, united Kurdistan here in northern Iraq to be able to have decent discussions with Baghdad but whilst the divisions maintain, it makes it much harder to be able to hold those discussions for the security and longevity of the region,” Lloyd Russell-Moyle, British MP for Labour and Co-operative Party, said in an interview with Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been at loggerheads in recent months over the Region’s parliamentary elections, the transparency of the oil and local income of the provinces under their influence, and the assassination of a former PUK colonel in Erbil in October.
“It is in my view not reasonable to expect all the oil money to be transferred back to Baghdad and then hope and pray that it is transferred back up again, but there needs to be proper accounting and auditing,” Russell-Moyle said, calling on the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to come together and navigate towards a method of sharing the oil income.
Russell-Moyle also stated that Baghdad must take the “first step” to ensure that proper auditing and accounting of the oil income takes place to avoid further disputes.
The Kurdistan Region has over the past year been rocked by two waves of major Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruling against its finances, with the top court first ruling last February against the Region’s ability to administer its oil and gas sector and almost a year later in January ruling against the payment of the Region’s financial entitlements to Baghdad, claiming it violates the 2021 Iraqi Budget Law.
Kurdish government delegations have traveled to Baghdad on several occasions to reach a common ground with the Iraqi government, however, none of the visits have had a solid outcome.
“That is an unfortunate fact, that whilst Kurdistan is divided, Baghdad will continue to be able to rule. We need a strong, united Kurdistan here in northern Iraq to be able to have decent discussions with Baghdad but whilst the divisions maintain, it makes it much harder to be able to hold those discussions for the security and longevity of the region,” Lloyd Russell-Moyle, British MP for Labour and Co-operative Party, said in an interview with Rudaw’s Shahyan Tahseen.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have been at loggerheads in recent months over the Region’s parliamentary elections, the transparency of the oil and local income of the provinces under their influence, and the assassination of a former PUK colonel in Erbil in October.
“It is in my view not reasonable to expect all the oil money to be transferred back to Baghdad and then hope and pray that it is transferred back up again, but there needs to be proper accounting and auditing,” Russell-Moyle said, calling on the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to come together and navigate towards a method of sharing the oil income.
Russell-Moyle also stated that Baghdad must take the “first step” to ensure that proper auditing and accounting of the oil income takes place to avoid further disputes.
The Kurdistan Region has over the past year been rocked by two waves of major Iraqi Federal Supreme Court ruling against its finances, with the top court first ruling last February against the Region’s ability to administer its oil and gas sector and almost a year later in January ruling against the payment of the Region’s financial entitlements to Baghdad, claiming it violates the 2021 Iraqi Budget Law.
Kurdish government delegations have traveled to Baghdad on several occasions to reach a common ground with the Iraqi government, however, none of the visits have had a solid outcome.
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