Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has expressed that poor policy choices in Baghdad are the greatest threat to Iraq’s unity, and Kurds are considering not participating in Iraq’s next elections.
“There is a possibility we might not participate in Iraq’s next parliamentary elections,” Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has said in an interview with Al Arabiya Hadath TV on Sunday.
“The crisis of ISIS is political, which can be resolved by the participation of all political entities,” he added.
Barzani was critical of Baghdad’s policies which he takes to pose a danger on the integrity of the country.
“What has Baghdad done to ensure Iraq is united? What has Baghdad done for the Kurds and their interests? What has it offered the Sunnis? The result of this policy is the greatest threat on the integrity of Iraq,” Barzani said.
The military defeat of ISIS in Mosul is nearing, but Kurdish officials have urged for better planning to avoid what some call “the next ISIS.”
“Running the country is based on the wrong policies which Baghdad has adopted. It’s based on wrong thinking, which is the greatest threat on the integrity of Iraq. I certainly think Iraq will be in danger if these issues are not resolved or taken seriously,” he said.
One place where there has been instability is Shingal, claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad, near the Syrian border.
“The aim of the presence of the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] in Shingal is to destabilize the region as a whole. Unfortunately, some parties in Baghdad are still providing assistance to the PKK,” he said.
Barzani considers Baghdad’s policy of providing assistance to the PKK or its Shingal Protection Units (YBS)-affiliate as wrong.
“I think this wrong policy does not serve good relations with Turkey as a neighboring country, nor does it serve the interests of Iraq to behave this way. We should all come to an agreement that the presence of the PKK in Shingal destabilizes the region,” he said.
In a report released in December 2016, the rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that recruits of the Shingal Protections Units (YBS), a PKK-affiliate armed group in the Shingal region, told HRW that they received salaries from the Iraqi government.
The spokesperson for PM Haider al-Abadi disputed that the Iraqi government funds foreign political parties.
“We will not allow any party to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq, and reject the interference in the internal affairs of other countries,” Saad Hadithi told Rudaw after the HRW reports emerged. “This is part of Iraq's foreign policy. In addition to that we do not want to be part of the internal problems in some countries, which is why the Iraqi government rejects these acts. The Iraqi state refuses to embrace non-Iraqi parties, and refuses the presence of such parties in Iraq.”
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