October 9, 2006
Rice urges Kurds to stay part of Iraq, and Barzani says independence is still an option
The Globe
By Mohammed A. Salih
In a surprise visit to Iraqi Kurdistan Region, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the regional capital of Erbil on Friday, Oct. 6, stressing the US-Kurdish friendship and urged non-Kurds to understand the "importance of autonomy here in Kurdish region and ? the special history of Kurdistan".
Speaking alongside
Kurdistan President
Massoud Barzani in a
press briefing in Erbil, Rice
said "We have been friends
with the Kurdish people for
a very long time, and in fact
prior to liberation [of Iraq]."
Rice held talks with Kurdish
officials on a wide range of
issues related to Kurds and
Iraq.
"The issue of security and
stability of Iraq, the nation
al reconciliation project,
Kurdistan Workers' Party's
(PKK) ceasefire and
America's role in appointing
a special envoy for [Kurdish] affairs in Turkey as well as the economic issues such as oil, gas and minerals were discussed in the meeting," Safin Dizayee, the Chief of Barzani's led Kurdistan Democratic Party's Public Relations Office, told the Globe.
Dizayee assessed the atmosphere of the talks as positive, saying that "we had identical views on most of the issues discussed."
He dismissed some recent media reports which raised accusations that Kurds are not deeply engaged in putting an end to the Shiite-Sunni bloodshed in Iraq.
"We want the blazes of the war in Baghdad to be away from us," Dizayee said. "But contrary [to those reports] President Barzani has invited the various parties to come and hold a broad reconciliation process in Kurdistan."
While concerns over Iraq's fate domestically and internationally grow as the country further slides into bloody sectarian violence, Secretary Rice voiced her optimism over the future of Iraq and Kurdistan saying that "We now are able to have a situation in which we will have a democratic Iraq, not just a democratic Kurdish region."
Rice's visit came after a recent upsurge in tensions between Kurdistan government and the federal government in Baghdad on oil drilling projects by the Kurdish government and the newly-drafted constitution of Kurdistan. The oil dispute has set the tune in Baghdad against Kurds with Shiite oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani claiming oil deals signed by the KRG would be invalid. KRG, in return, threatened that Kurds may consider the option of secession from Iraq, if Baghdad wouldn't change its position.
That has raised concerns among the Kurds that governments in Baghdad may seek to limit their autonomy, once they feel powerful. Asked that what guarantees the US offers for the maintenance of the current situation in Kurdistan, in return for Kurds' close cooperation with the US, a highly-cautious Rice answered "there are guarantees in the constitution of the unified Iraq."
Self-determination
However, talks of unified Iraq did not dissuade Barzani from reiterating his known stand on the right of secession for Kurds. "Kurds have the right to self-determination which is a natural right of any nation," President Barzani said in response to a question whether he shares public sentiments in Kurdistan for independence.
Meantime, Barzani's remarks on the distribution of oil revenues divided observers as to whether Kurds have wavered and softened their tough stand or not.
"We will continue to press for a solution which respects our rights, but which is part of a fair and equitable treatment of all Iraq's natural resources," President Barzani said at the press briefing.
Kurds have the right to self-determination which is a natural right of any nation.
Said President Barzani
But Dizayee ruled out any change in Kurdish position on oil, saying that because of some ambiguities in constitutional texts "there may be sometimes misunderstandings in terms of benefiting from and administrating the oil resources." "But, the KRG is committed to the articles in Iraqi constitution regarding oil, and we have been stressing this and there is no disagreement over it," Dizayee added.
Article 109 of Iraqi constitution authorizes regional governments to drill for oil in their region after the ratification of the constitution. Kurds have signed oil contracts since last fall with several foreign firms to produce oil.
Rice's visit to Kurdistan marked the fourth of its kind by a US Secretary of State, after her predecessors James Baker in 1991 and Colin Powel in 2003 paid visits to the region.
In her short visit, Rice did not fail to notice the difference between the violence-stricken Baghdad, where she flew from, and Erbil saying that "it is a beautiful region that is obviously growing very rapidly." In Baghdad Rice's plane landed with a 45-minute delay, because of a rocket fired at the airport a few minutes before her arrival.
