A final and decisive meeting between Baghdad and Erbil to administer the disputed areas

[size=52]A final and decisive meeting between Baghdad and Erbil to administer the disputed areas[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Once again, Baghdad and Erbil go to a new round of discussions with the aim of administering the areas called "disputed" by the constitution, and it is believed that this round will be decisive. These areas have been witnessing an escalation in ISIS attacks for more than 3 years. It is expected that the new round will be different this time because of the insistence of the Baghdad government to push forward the agreement.[/size]
[size=45]However, the way the Kurdish "Peshmerga" forces are deployed remains a matter of controversy, and will they return to the region before the referendum crisis or remain in their places?[/size]
[size=45]More than a million Kurds live in the disputed areas, which total an area of ​​37,000 square kilometers, and extend from Khanaqin in eastern Diyala to the Nineveh Plain in northeastern Mosul.[/size]
[size=45]"Baghdad and Erbil are awaiting a round of negotiations or a final, decisive meeting to administer the disputed areas, which should be after the Eid holiday," said Rashad Kalali, an official with the Kurdistan Union Party in Mosul.[/size]
[size=45]And former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi decided in October 2017, to redeploy federal forces in the disputed areas, and to remove Kurdish forces behind the Blue Line - a no-fly zone that was defined by the United States, Britain and France in 1991 - due to the participation of these forces. Regions in Kurdistan referendum for self-determination.[/size]
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[size=45]"The agreement will eliminate the vacuums that ISIS has been exploiting for more than 3 years to direct strikes on Kirkuk, Mosul and Diyala," Clali added, in contact with (Al-Mada).[/size]
[size=45]ISIS launched more than 900 attacks during that period, at a rate of about one attack every day in one of those provinces.[/size]
[size=45]According to the estimates of the joint operations, the distance of the spaces between the "Peshmerga" sites and the federal forces, reaches 10 square kilometers, or more in some areas, up to 13 square kilometers.[/size]
[size=45]The Kurdish official indicates that "4 security operations rooms will be spread from Khanaqin to the Nineveh Plain, and these rooms will determine the way to deal with security problems."[/size]
[size=45]The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Lieutenant General Jabbar Yawar, had previously announced that Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi directed the implementation of the joint security agreement between the Joint Operations Command and the Peshmerga forces in the disputed areas.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Yawar explained in a statement to the official agency that "during the previous meetings, we reached a joint agreement to form the centers of the Joint Security Coordination Room for the regions of Khanaqin, Kirkuk, Mosul and Makhmour, and that the agreement was made in light of the proposals presented by Al-Kazemi."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Yawar indicated that "according to this agreement was made between the Supreme Security Coordination Committee of the Ministry of Peshmerga and the Supreme Security Coordination Committee for the Joint Operations Command."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "These centers have not been implemented by the Coordinating Committee of the Joint Operations Command, and the agreement to form a joint force of Peshmerga forces and Iraqi army forces in the disputed areas has also not been implemented."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Yawar confirmed, "The prime minister directed, during a security meeting, the Supreme Security Coordination Committee in the Joint Operations Command to head to the Kurdistan region to activate the previous security agreements," noting that "a delegation from Baghdad visited the Kurdistan region on the ninth of this month, headed by National Security Adviser Qassem Al-Araji. During the visit, it was agreed to implement the aforementioned security agreements after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that "the best solution for the stability of the disputed areas lies in the continuation of joint coordination between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army forces to maintain security in those areas."[/size]
[size=45]International intervention[/size]
[size=45]Attempts to restore coordination between the federal forces and the Peshmerga go back to 2018 - a few months later - to Al-Abadi's previous decision - when Britain and the United States intervened to persuade Baghdad to return to the agreement.[/size]
[size=45]Shakhwan Abdullah, a former deputy from Kirkuk, says that "regional parties - he did not mention them - internal political parties do not want this agreement to proceed."[/size]
[size=45]Some of the disputed areas live in a tense atmosphere due to the presence of armed factions that came after the "referendum crisis", and those parties are also accused of practicing economic activities there that may make it difficult for them to leave.[/size]
[size=45]Shakhwan, who is a member of the Committee for the Normalization of Conditions in Kirkuk, calls in an interview with Al-Mada to "deport all factions and forces that are not from Kirkuk," noting that "the recurrence of security incidents in Kirkuk is because these forces are foreign to the region and do not know their nature."[/size]
[size=45]During the past weeks, the areas of separation between Baghdad and Kurdistan witnessed missile attacks and direct clashes. At that time, ISIS claimed responsibility for these incidents.[/size]
[size=45]Baghdad and Erbil met 6 times in meetings on re-coordination in the disputed areas, but no agreement was reached.[/size]
[size=45]"Baghdad has insistence this time, and Europe and America are also pressing for the passage of the agreement," said the Kurdish official in Mosul, Rashad Kalali.[/size]
[size=45]The Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Joy Hood, visited Erbil yesterday and met with the President of the region, Nechirvan Barzani.[/size]
[size=45]A statement issued after the meeting concluded that the two parties agreed to "support and coordinate work between the Peshmerga forces and the federal forces."[/size]
[size=45]The news of talks about "coordination success" raises controversy in the disputed areas, especially in Kirkuk, which accuses Arab and Turkmen parties of Arab monopolizing power there.[/size]
[size=45]According to Al-Mada sources in Diyala and Kirkuk, the new agreement may return “about 50 percent of the Peshmerga” to the areas from which it withdrew in 2017. Clali says: “The establishment of joint operations rooms is the most important now, and we may go in the next phase to form a military brigade. Of the components of the sons of the disputed areas.[/size]
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