Iraq
Shakhawan Abdullah, second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, speaking to Rudaw on October 13, 2022. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Shakhawan Abdullah, second deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament told Rudaw on Thursday that resolving the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad is one of the tasks of the upcoming Iraqi government and the prime minister-designate’s agenda.
After more than a year of political bickering since the parliamentary elections in October 2021, the Iraqi parliament voted in Latif Rashid as the country’s new president, following a lengthy race with former President Barham Salih. Rashid has now tasked Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani to form the new government.
“He [Sudani] says that the policies that have managed relations between the [Kurdistan] Region and Baghdad have been unhealthy, and that we must fix this situation so that we can bring back stability to Iraq,” Abdullah told Rudaw's Shahyan Tahseen on Thursday, adding the PM-designate has previously criticized former Iraqi governments for the way they have handled relation with the Kurdistan Region.
Sudani will have 30 days to name all ministers of his cabinet, or risk losing the position if he fails to do so.
Abdullah added that “fixing the issues between the [Kurdistan] Region and Baghdad is one of the tasks of this government,” drawing special emphasis on the outstanding issues between Erbil and Baghdad over the Region’s oil and gas law and the topic of the disputed areas.
The Iraqi Federal Supreme Court in February deemed the Kurdistan Region’s oil and gas law “unconstitutional”, hence striking the independence of the Region’s energy sector and jeopardizing its industry. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly challenged the constitutionality of the court’s ruling.
“The timing of the federal court’s ruling was unhealthy and was during a time of political conflict… If this decision were to be implemented, it would harm Iraq as well, not just the Kurdistan Region,” Abdullah added.
Abdullah stated that relations between the KRG and the federal government must be considered earnestly, until an agreement is reached between both sides on drafting an inclusive Iraqi oil and gas law.
“The Iraqi oil file must be reviewed. Oil is a federal institution, and our [Kurds] absence from a federal institution is unacceptable. It is unacceptable for SOMO [State Organization for Marketing of Oil] to manage my oil while I have no representation there. Even SOMO must be re-drafted in a way that includes a Kurdish representative,” Abdullah said.
The implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution “in greater detail” is also a part of the upcoming Iraqi cabinet’s agenda, Abdullah added, saying that this also includes commitment to implementing the Shingal (Sinjar) agreement “as it is the only guarantor of the return of the displaced, and the return of security and stability to the area.”
The Iraqi government and the KRG signed an agreement in 2020 to “normalize” the situation in Shingal following the invasion of the Islamic State (ISIS), which includes the withdrawal of all Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated forces in the city. The agreement has been rejected by the PKK and its affiliated groups.
Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution has been one of the most controversial topics relating to the disputed areas in the war-torn country since the drafting of the constitution in 2005, as the failure to fully implement it has been cited as one of the main reasons for the continued attempts at demographic change.
“Kurds cannot be the majority in Kirkuk, yet be absent in the security and executive bodies, and even the governor position which is reserved for the Kurdish component… We have set a pathway to legally remove the current governor and review all the executive positions in Kirkuk,” Abdullah added.
Rakan al-Jabouri was appointed as acting governor of Kirkuk by Baghdad in 2017 after the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) militias took over the province from the Kurdish Peshmerga. Jabouri has been widely criticized for his anti-Kurd actions, particularly regarding land disputes between Kurds and Arabs.
Article 140 calls for the dispute over areas in the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Salahaddin to be resolved, and includes measures aimed at rectifying Arabization policies implemented under the rule of Hussein. It specifies that this process needs to be implemented by no later than the end of 2007, yet it remains to be fully applied around 15 years after that date.
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