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Barzani praises Turkish stance amid Iraq coalition debates
Nechirvan Barzani, the former prime minister of the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, had a lengthy meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara on Wednesday evening. Barzani, who in late January was appointed deputy head of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), also met with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu in İstanbul on Tuesday.
Barzani, speaking to a group of journalists in Ankara on Wednesday following his meeting with Erdoğan, was reminded of Turkish news reports suggesting that Ankara has supported Ayad Allawi, who won the general elections by a narrow margin, since before the elections. Allawi is now looking for partners to form a coalition government to rule the country.
“What I noticed during my meeting with Mr. Prime Minister is that he is not supporting one side at the expense of the other side,” responded Barzani, whose remarks made in Kurdish were translated into Turkish through an interpreter.
“He [Erdoğan] is displaying a position which supports all Iraqis. According to what I understood, he hopes that an agreement is reached through the participation of all groups,” Barzani added. He was tightlipped when asked whether Iraqi Kurds are considering participating in a coalition ruled by Allawi or forming an alliance with incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Nonetheless, Barzani has indicated that the Kurds, who are widely assumed to be the kingmaker in the elections, will firmly demand real concessions on contentious issues during the bargaining period before the formation of a coalition.
“We will work as a partner of the central governmentand we will make demands for the sake of our region,” Barzani said. He also reiterated the Kurds’ demand for the implementation of Article 140 -- the clause in the constitution that lays out a plan to determine who will control Kirkuk. The plan includes holding a census and a referendum. The deadline for such steps has long passed, and Turkmens and Arabs, who accuse Arbil of sending hundreds of thousands of Kurds to Kirkuk to tip the ethnic balance, say the plan’s blueprints are now obsolete. Kurds deny those charges.
The Iraqi Kurdish leader, meanwhile, praised Erdoğan’s courage in dealing with the Kurdish issue. Last summer, the Turkish government launched a democratization initiative which in part envisions expanding the rights of the country’s Kurdish people, thus eradicating the grounds for support and sympathy for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Important steps have been taken by Mr. Prime Minister, and they deserve the support of all parties. We should also support [these steps]. This is a great change. I hope we will succeed.”
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