The American ambassador leads a new mediation to resolve the differences between Baghdad and Erbil

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[size=52]The American ambassador leads a new mediation to resolve the differences between Baghdad and Erbil[/size]

[size=45]On her second visit to the city of Erbil in less than a month, the US Ambassador to Iraq, Elena Romanski, meets with prominent Kurdish leaders in the region, where she renews her full support for resolving the intractable problems between the region and Baghdad. Amid escalating tensions, the Kurds refused to use the Baghdad Supreme Court as a tool to weaken their region.[/size]
[size=45]This visit comes in light of the issuance of a series of new and unprecedented decisions from the Federal Court, which withdrew the financial management authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government and decided to transfer responsibility for distributing salaries directly to Baghdad, including the salaries of the Peshmerga forces and local police, which exceed one and a quarter million employees.[/size]
[size=45]In another development, the court issued an order organizing the elections for the Kurdistan Regional Parliament and abolishing the Election Commission that has been operating in the region since 2006, which caused a dispute between Baghdad and Erbil that prompted the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the ruling party in the region, to boycott the elections, threatening to leave the Iraqi political process.[/size]
[size=45]On Saturday night, Romanski held a series of meetings in Erbil, most notably with the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, and the heads of the region and its government, Nechirvan Barzani and Masrour Barzani. At the top of the files was the file of the crisis resulting between Baghdad and Erbil as a result of the decisions of the Federal Court.[/size]
[size=45]According to a statement issued by Masoud Barzani’s office, the latter stressed that “it is not permissible to hold Kurdistan parliamentary elections without the participation of the components,” referring to the Federal Court in Baghdad’s abolition of the quota for religious minorities, accusing Baghdad of “following a policy of weakening the region for a long time.”[/size]
[size=45]He reiterated his “support for holding elections, provided that they are far from external interference and the imposition of an illegal method for holding them.” The ambassador also met with the President of the region, Nechirvan Barzani, and the meeting, according to a statement issued by the region’s presidency, focused on the issue of the Kurdistan Parliament elections scheduled for next June, and the party’s withdrawal. Kurdistan Democratic Party, including in protest against the decisions of the Federal Court in Baghdad.[/size]
[size=45]According to the statement, the two sides stressed “solving the problems of Erbil and Baghdad on the basis of the constitution and protecting and guaranteeing the rights of all.”[/size]
[size=45]The American ambassador also held a similar meeting with the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, who indicated in a statement “not accepting the justification for any violation of the Kurdistan region’s constitutional rights” (referring to the decisions of the Federal Court).[/size]
[size=45]The two sides stressed “the necessity of respecting the federal entity of the Kurdistan region, and sending its financial rights through the regional government.”[/size]
[size=45]Barzani stressed that “the region has fulfilled all its constitutional obligations, and therefore any violation of its rights stipulated in the constitution cannot be justified clearly and unambiguously.”[/size]
[size=45]For her part, the American ambassador expressed her “full support for resolving the outstanding problems between the Kurdistan region and the federal government through dialogue and under the umbrella of the constitution.”[/size]
[size=45]In the middle of this month, the US Ambassador made a visit to Erbil and met with Kurdish leaders, and discussed with them the course of the Federal Court’s decisions.[/size]
[size=45]An official in the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government said that Washington is sponsoring a quiet settlement between Baghdad and Erbil, which aims to return the Democratic Party to the elections and reverse the boycott decision, and also stop any escalation from Baghdad related to the administrative measures taken against Erbil.[/size]
[size=45]The same official confirmed that Washington “shares Erbil’s position regarding the presence of political influences on a number of Federal Court decisions related to the Kurdistan region,” he said.[/size]
[size=45]He added that Masoud Barzani “welcomed any solution without taking away or limiting the region’s constitutional authority, which is what the American ambassador seeks through her new movement between Baghdad and Erbil.”[/size]
[size=45]Last Wednesday, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, accused the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq of “tampering” with the Kurdistan Regional Parliament elections law for the sake of “foreign agendas,” accusing it of seeking to “break” the Democratic Party, while it refused. Implementing its decisions, which he described as “unconstitutional.[/size]
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