BERLIN, Germany – Kurdish ministers in the Iraqi cabinet should pull out of the government if Baghdad refuses to resolve a burgeoning budget row, said Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister Roj Nuri Shawais.
“If the Kurdish ministers would not withdraw from Baghdad while the salaries are not sent to Kurdistan employees, then what's the job of Kurdish employees in Baghdad and what should they do?” questioned Shawais, himself a Kurd.
“I think all the Kurdish ministers are ready to withdraw if the situation gets to that point,” said the deputy minister, speaking to Rudaw on the sidelines of the Iraq-Germany Trade and Investment Forum in Berlin.
An Erbil-Baghdad row over independent Kurdish oil exports and Erbil’s share of the national budget has intensified over the past several months, with Kurdistan insisting it is ready to export oil through a pipeline to Turkey and Baghdad claiming that is illegal.
Baghdad has reportedly been holding disbursements from the national budget, which Kurdish officials say is a pressure tactic.
A Kurdish delegation extensively debated the budget delay in Baghdad recently. Sources tell Rudaw that Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani strongly protested the move, calling it “unacceptable.”
“This matter was debated extensively and frankly it was put forward that cutting the budget of the Kurdistan employees and not sending the Kurdistan budget portion from Iraqi budget is unconstitutional,” Shawais said.
“This has not happened in Iraq before and this would be considered a big aggression,” he warned.
Meanwhile Ali Shala, an MP from the ruling State of Law party, accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of being non-transparent in its dealings.
“KRG does not deal with the federal government in a clear and transparent way,” he alleged. “The KRG does not let the Federal Audit board work in the Kurdistan Region. We don't know anything about them,” he said.
Both Shawais and Shala agreed that solutions were needed to resolve the dispute.
Shawais echoed previous notes of Kurdish optimism about the last round of talks in Baghdad. “I think there were identical views between the two delegations,” he said.
Asked if it was Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who was responsible for withholding the budget, Shawais said: "We can't say if it’s Maliki or which party it is; it’s the federal government,”
“Whoever has advised this, it’s bad advice,” he added. “It harms the federal government and harms trust between the KRG and the federal government.”
Iraq’s Kurdish deputy finance minister Fazil Nabi told Rudaw earlier that it was Maliki and his deputy for energy affairs, Hussein Shahristani, who were personally responsible for stopping the money to Kurdistan.
But Shahristani told al-Iraqiya TV: “It’s the finance ministry that blocks the portion of Kurdistan Region’s budget.”
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