Massoud Barzani says my concerns Iraqi before being Kurdish, we will not accept but to…

ERBIL-Hewlêr, shafaaq.com + Zaman – 3.12.2012 – :  The President of Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani confirmed on Sunday that the Iraqi issues are his main concern before the Kurdish issues, noting that Iraq’s capital Baghdad belongs to all and is not restricted to one person. The President of Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani said in an interview with Zaman newspaper, that “my concerns are primarily Iraqi before being Kurdish and I was keen that a decent living services would reach the Iraqis in the far south of Iraq just like I want to Kurdistan Region.”

He noted that “Baghdad belongs to all and is not restricted to one person and no one can exclude the Kurds from Iraq.” “The Kurds are essential partners in Iraq and that the constitution will remain the judge in their eyes and the President of the government must commit in it and not overcome it, pointing out that the region is keen on the unity of Iraq and will not be a reason in dividing it.” He added that “he vows for the included areas by the mentioned Article to meet all rights aspired by the population, but not before applying Article 140 and normalizing the situation.” The relation between the federal government in Baghdad and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is witnessing an acute crisis due to several disagreements, most recently the formation of Baghdad to, “Dijla Operations Command” to take over security responsibilities in the disputed area. Massoud Barzani confirmed on Sunday that he will not accept anything less than dissolving Dijla Command Forces on the back ground of the current crisis between Erbil and Baghdad, while stressing that all options are open to face the ” dictatorial approach “, and hold the three presidencies the responsibility of “uniqueness” of the President, Nuri al-Maliki government in making decisions.

Barzani told Zaman newspaper, “the military mass against the region is a decision that was taken directly by Maliki’s office in support of his advisers,” stressing that ” who think that arming the adjacent areas with armored vehicles and heavy weapons will help in forcing the Kurds to waive their constitutional right in Article 140.”He stressed that “the region will not accept anything less than dissolving Dijla leadership because these forces are unconstitutional.”

Barzani said that “all options are open to face the dictatorial approach”.

Kurdistan President denied that he was against the establishment of a strong Iraqi army, saying “we are with establishing such an army,” adding, “it must be an army of Iraqis and not for one person.” Barzani said “he was the first one who said no uniqueness in decisions of al-Maliki,” adding that “no one supported me at that time.”

The crisis between Erbil and Baghdad witnessed a dangerous turn after announcing that the failure of the negotiations conducted by the Kurdish military delegation in Baghdad with the Ministry of Defense to contain the repercussions of the crisis between the two parties. While the Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki accused Erbil of violating the constitution in a press conference held yesterday in Baghdad as it is considered the first of its kind since the beginning of the recent crisis between the two parties. After discussions and meetings that lasted for four days between representatives of the Peshmerga Ministry in KRG and a delegation of representatives of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, Kurdistan party gave a working paper of 14 points to the Iraqi government that was approved initially by the Iraqi government on most of the points and announced a statement in this regard, but on 29 of November, the Iraqi party submitted another paper, but the KRG delegation did not reach any agreement with the Iraqi delegation to the presence of difference on the first two points which are cancelling Dijla operations command and the second was joint management of security in the disputed areas. Kurdish parties expressed last Thursday in a meeting with Kurdistan regional president, Massoud Barzani its discontent from the positions of the Iraqi government, stressing that Baghdad had shown positivity during the last meetings, but it has later declined and insisted on the deployment of military forces in Kirkuk and Tuz Khormatu district.