MESOP : PRO INDEPENDENCE – EU Countries Won’t Oppose Kurdish Independence: KRG Envoy

02/08/2016 – BasNews – ERBIL — EU countries will not oppose the independence of Kurdistan Region and Kurdish natural gas is predicted to be exported to Europe at the beginning of 2019, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative to EU said.

Despite the key role of the Kurdistan Region in the war against Islamic State (IS) and its close relations with most countries in the world, particularly the EU members, the Peshmerga forces have not yet received enough munition and heavy arms to continue fighting IS or eliminate it, KRG representative to the EU, Dlawar Azhgayi, said.

Azhgayi stated in an interview with Asharq al-Awsat that the European countries are unable to provide the Peshmerga forces with weaponry directly, considering the fact that the Kurdistan Region is not an independent state.  Although all indicators point to the possibility of a military agreement between KRG and NATO similar to the agreement made between Erbil and Washington, Azhgayi however rules it out for now, stating that the agreement may take place in the future. And whether the natural gas of Kurdistan Region will replace the Russian gas in Europe, he said it will not be fully securing Europe’s needs for gas, but it can meet a larger part of its needs in the future. Regarding the project of exporting Kurdish gas to Europe Azhgayi said that the export of KRG gas to Europe will be through the Turkish territory, noting that Ankara will not oppose this project since it will benefit both KRG and Turkey.

“The project of exporting Kurdish natural gas to Europe will expectedly be launched in early 2019,” he said. The Kurdish official believes that the European Union will not stand against the will of the Kurdish people in declaring Independence from Iraq, stressing that the European communities support the right of self-determination for the Kurdish people.”The European countries will not tell us explicitly to go ahead and announce your state, but they are waiting for the decision of the people of Kurdistan Region and later will deal with facts on the ground,” he said. www.mesop.de