http://www.rudaw.net/english/interview/5530.html
President Barzani’s Chief of Staff: As Maliki Prepares For War, Kurds Prepare For Self-defense.
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Fuad Hussein, Chief of Staff of Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani. Photo: Rudaw.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- With war drums beating over the tense stand-off between Iraqi and Kurdish troops in the disputed territories that are claimed both by Baghdad and Erbil, the chief of staff of Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani tells Rudaw that the Kurds do not want conflict, but have “prepared for a war, in case it happens.” He adds that, “Hundreds of dialogues and negotiations are still better than one hour of fighting.”
Rudaw: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is taking stronger positions against Kurds day after day, but the Kurds insist on negotiations. What is the reason behind this soft policy of the Kurds?
Fuad Hussein: Kurdish soft policy is not a result of weakness, but rather from the belief that problems can be solved through negotiations. However, Kurds also have prepared for a war, in case it happens.
Rudaw: Is Maliki willing to solve the problems through negotiations?
Fuad Hussein: We have had many negotiations with Maliki, and signed many agreements. But the problem is that he does not abide by the agreements. What is clear is that Maliki is preparing for war. When he prepares for war, the Kurds have the right to prepare for self-defense.
Rudaw: Will the Kurds continue on this policy while Maliki keeps deploying more and more troops near the border?
Fuad Hussein: Maliki has mobilized his army units, and we have sent our Peshmarga forces. But this situation cannot continue. This situation cannot be tolerated by the Iraqi constitution or Iraq’s current circumstances.
Rudaw: Do you think the Kurds will run out of patience?
Fuad Hussein: Hundreds of dialogues and negotiations are still better than one hour of fighting. The doors to dialogue must remain open until the very last moment. However, if war is knocking on your door, you have to be prepared for it. And this is what the Kurdistan people have been doing. The Kurdistan Region president has sent many delegations to Baghdad, and as we speak, we have one on the way to Baghdad. In the meantime, the Kurds are prepared to defend Kurdistan and its people.
“We have had many negotiations with Maliki, and signed many agreements. But the problem is that he does not abide by the agreements.”Rudaw: You attempted in the past to remove Maliki from office. But now that Maliki is taking a hostile position against the Kurds, you are not trying to remove him. Does this show a Kurdish weakness?
Fuad Hussein: We are sure that Maliki sees himself as strong. But in fact he is not. That is because even among his own coalition the Sadrists publicly stand against his policies. Among the Shias, there is much opposition to Maliki's policies. Iraqi relations with the neighboring countries are not in a good shape at all. So where is Maliki's strength? Despite all these however, we have to insist on negotiations and dialogue. The strength of any party is only determined on the battlefield.
Rudaw: Maliki claims that a war will not affect Baghdad, Karbala, or Najaf, implying that only the Kurds will lose.
Fuad Hussein: If a war starts, it will affect all of Iraq equally. But the war will not be an Arab-Kurdish war. I don’t know how Maliki can claim to be representing all the Arabs. Because the Maliki I know, was not such an Arab patriot. He is more concerned with Islamism; even his party has been a more Islamist party than Arab nationalist. Now that he is trying to project himself as an Arab nationalist, he is diverting from his very own principles! He is standing against his own beliefs.
Rudaw: So since the Kurds, the Sunnis and some Shias are against Maliki's policies, why is another attempt to remove him from office not initiated?
Fuad Hussein: Withdrawing confidence from someone in office is a democratic process, and everybody is subject to a potential withdrawal of confidence. However, to withdraw confidence some parliamentary and legal work has to be done. It seems the work is not done yet.
Rudaw: What was the Iraqi Parliament speaker's message to the Kurds?
Fuad Hussein: The Iraqi parliamentary speaker visited Kurdistan twice for the same purpose. In both of his visits Osama Nujeifi said Maliki wants a return to an earlier agreement about the armed forces in the disputed areas, and to have the police run the security of the cities. But we had some questions about this demand. What army units will be withdrawn from the disputed areas? Where will they go from there? Who will the police forces report to, the governor or Maliki's office? If it is the latter, then this agreement will not work. Therefore, we have to know the exact mechanism and what is meant by withdrawing from the disputed territories? The Dijla Forces have also to be annulled. Maliki has created a very strange situation. The Kurds are not fond of war. They are fond of peace and life, but if they have to fight they are not afraid to fight.
Rudaw: Have Kurds asked for the interference of a third party, the Americans for example, or any other party?
Fuad Hussein: There is no third party. We have to be realistic about this. Before, there was the US army. Now, there is no US army. The UN cannot come to the area. At the end of the day, we have to come to an agreement among ourselves, and solve the problems. However, the Iraqi army is equipped with American weapons and trained by the Americans, and this will morally obligate America to interfere. The Kurdistan Region will discuss this with the US authorities.
Rudaw: Some local media outlets in Kurdistan claimed that President Barzani had agreed, after his second meeting with Nujeifi, to withdraw the Peshmarga forces from the disputed territories without the dissolution of the Dijla forces. Is this true?
Fuad Hussein: Nujeifi had a number of proposals. President Barzani told him that if the Iraqi authorities are willing to negotiate on the problems, we are ready to solve this problem through dialogue. And regarding the withdrawal of the Peshmarga forces before abolishment of the Dijla forces, it is not true. I do not know how any media outlet can make such a claim.
Rudaw: In what circumstances will the Peshmarga withdraw from the disputed territories?
Fuad Hussein: This depends on the negotiations. Maliki has mobilized the army to solve a political issue, and this is unconstitutional. We cannot have another militarized Iraq. Iraq must not fall into the hands of the generals again.
“The Kurds are not fond of war. They are fond of peace and life, but if they have to fight they are not afraid to fight.”
Rudaw: How do the Kurds address the issue of the border with Maliki? Maliki says that the Kurds must withdraw to the pre-2003 (borders).
Fuad Hussein: If this is what Maliki believes, then he does not recognize the constitutional Article 140. According to this article, there are some disputed areas between Kurdistan and Iraq and these areas are to be run jointly until a referendum is carried out and the people of the area decide for themselves. This matter cannot be solved by a political decision from Baghdad. In practice, Maliki is working against the constitution and is sending army units to the disputed areas. He has even changed the name of the disputed areas to "mixed areas." According to the constitution these areas are disputed areas. The border of the Kurdistan Region will be determined by the referendum that article 140 has prescribed.
Rudaw: But Maliki is obviously not implementing Article 140 and he is mobilizing the army in the area. Will there be war?
Fuad Hussein: We are asking God to keep war away from all of us. War might sound easy in words. However, if a war is imposed on us, we are confident in the Peshmarga forces. The Peshmarga commanders have researched a possible war with Iraq and are certain that they can defeat Iraq.
Rudaw: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has returned to Baghdad. Did he return to his regular post as president or does he intend to calm the situation?
Fuad Hussein: Talabani's job is to protect the constitution. When he saw the constitution is breached, he went back to Baghdad. As the president of Iraq, Talabani is trying to preserve the constitution and Maliki has to respect the constitution.
Rudaw: What do the Americans say about the recent developments?
Fuad Hussein: The Americans are very concerned about the situation. They do not want the situation to worsen. They talked to us and to the officials in Baghdad.
Rudaw: Did they offer any solution? Did they put any pressure on the Kurds?
Fuad Hussein: America has been supporting the 2009 agreement from the very beginning. That is because the whole idea of forming joint forces in the disputed territories was the idea of the Americans. America does not pressure the Kurds to withdraw the Peshmarga forces. But they ask both sides to return to the pre-2009 agreement. They do not like to see the Iraqi army and Peshmarga forces pointing their weapons at each other.
Rudaw: Last week Qasim Soleimani (the commander of Iran’s Qods Forces) came to Erbil and met with President Barzani and Talabani. Why did he come to Erbil?
“The Americans do not like to see the Iraqi army and Peshmarga forces pointing their weapons at each other.”
Fuad Hussein: This problem we are dealing with is a big problem. The neighboring countries are concerned, particularly Iran. Maliki intends to use arms. This will create problems for the whole region. So Iran is upset with this problem and Maliki's attitudes.
Rudaw: Can Iran pressure Maliki to calm the situation down?
Fuad Hussein: We have discussed this problem with Iran. And, yes Iran can pressure Maliki.
Rudaw: Iranian President Mahmood Ahmedinejad is expected to visit Baghdad. Will he visit the Kurdistan Region too?
Fuad Hussein: He was expected to visit Baghdad. Had he visited Baghdad, he would have visited Kurdistan as well.
Rudaw: Kurdistan’s political parties and Kurdistan’s president sent letters to Iraq’s Shia parties. What was their response?
Fuad Hussein: I think the Shia parties were very happy with the letters. They received the president's letter very positively. The letters were very influential.
Rudaw: Has Maliki tried to divide the Kurds among themselves?
Fuad Hussein: Malikis has been very much hoping for that. But his hopes have not been realistic. He was disillusioned by many analysts and was fed wrong information. Maliki was convinced that if he ran for office in Erbil he would win over all the other possible candidates! However, Maliki has to know that he is fighting for his seat, but the Kurds for their land. He has a seat, the Kurds have their land. If you are situated on your land, you will not fall off, but on a seat, you may very well fall off.
Baghdad-Erbil Agreement on Troops Must Precede Peshmarga Withdrawal, Commander Says
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Kurdistan Peshmerga forces deployed in parts of the disputed territories against Iraq's Dijla forces. Photo: Rudaw.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Baghdad and Erbil must agree on a troop withdrawal in the disputed territories before a Peshmarga delegation agrees to travel to the Iraqi capital for discussions on pulling out the fighters, a senior commander said.
“Unless the Kurdistan political delegation reaches an agreement in Baghdad, a Peshmarga delegation will not go to Baghdad,” said the Peshmarga commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“Even if a Peshmarga delegation visits Baghdad, it will do what the political delegation advises it to do,” he added.
Iraq has been plunged in a weeks-old crisis that was ignited after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sent in his newly-formed and controversial Dijla forces to take over security in the disputed northern territories, which are also claimed by the Kurds.
The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government sent in thousands of its own Peshmarga fighters into the areas, which are potentially rich in energy reserves and until now have been patrolled by joint Arab-Kurdish security forces.
The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Osama Nujeifi, said last week that Baghdad and Erbil had reached an agreement on withdrawing troops, but on Monday the Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani told Peshmarga troops on the frontlines in Kirkuk that, while he was hopeful of a peaceful outcome to the crisis war remained a possibility.
Rebwar Talabani, deputy head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, told Rudaw that, “we are waiting for the parties to reach an agreement, but until the very last moment we want the Peshmarga troops to remain in Kirkuk.”
Talabani, who is a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, said that recent efforts by different parties had somewhat eased tensions in Kirkuk, an oil-rich prize that by some estimates contains 4 percent of the world’s oil reserves and is at the center of the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil.
Talabani said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Baghdad earlier this month, efforts by Nujeifi and a declaration by Iraq’s influential Shia saying that a war between the country’s Arabs and Kurds is religiously forbidden, “had positive results on the crisis.”
“But the people want the situation to normalize completely,” he said.
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http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/5538.html
Kurdistan Opposition Groups Turn Down Meeting with Maliki
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The leaders of Kurdistan Region's three main opposition groups. Photo: Rudaw.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Opposition parties in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region said they had turned down invitations to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, adding they would refuse talks with Baghdad until it resolves a tense row with Erbil over troop deployments in the disputed territories.
War drums have been sounding ever since Maliki sent his newly-formed Dijla forces to take over security in the disputed territories and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which also claims the energy-rich lands, sent in thousands of its own Peshmarga forces.
Kurdish opposition groups have been united with the KRG in condemning Baghdad’s move to unilaterally take over security in the ethnically-mixed territories, which until now have been patrolled by joint forces.
The Islamic League (Komal), Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Change Movement (Gorran) all said they had received invitations for talks by Maliki, but had turned them down because they believed the premier was trying to drive a wedge among the Kurds.
“We believe that now is not a good time to meet with Maliki, when relations between the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad are in a deadlock,” said Jalal Jawhar, spokesman of Gorran, Kurdistan’s largest opposition group.
Jawhar said that his group would not meet with Maliki until he pulls Dijla troops out of the disputed territories, and dissolves the controversial force that has been criticized as unconstitutional.
“Maliki refused to implement the Kurdish demands to resolve the current crisis. For this reason, we don’t want to meet with him,” said Muhammad Ahmad, a senior KIU leader of KIU. He said the opposition groups also had called on the ruling parties to boycott negotiations with Baghdad.
Senior Komal official Muhammad Hakim said, “It is not a good time to meet with Maliki, since he is persistent in his animosity toward the Kurdistan Region.”
Iraq’s Parliament Speaker Osama Nujeifi said last week that Baghdad and Erbil had reached an agreement on withdrawing troops. But on Monday the Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani told Peshmarga troops on the frontlines in Kirkuk that he was hopeful of a peaceful outcome to the crisis, but that war remained a possibility.
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