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Kurdish Leader Calls for Iraqi Premier to Resign Kurdish Leader Calls for Iraqi Premier to Resign
(about 2 hours later)
BAGHDAD — The Kurdish regional government responded Thursday to harsh criticism from Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, announcing that its ministers would boycott cabinet meetings, demanding an apology to the Iraqi people and calling on Mr. Maliki step down. BAGHDAD — The Kurdish regional government responded Thursday to harsh criticism from Iraq’s prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, announcing that its ministers would boycott cabinet meetings, demanding an apology to the Iraqi people and calling on Mr. Maliki to step down.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki accused the Kurds of turning their regional capital into the headquarters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as harboring Baathists, members of the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein, and other opponents of the Iraqi government. In a televised address on Wednesday, Mr. Maliki accused the Kurds of turning their regional capital into the headquarters of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, as well as harboring members of the Baath Party of former President Saddam Hussein and other opponents of the Iraqi government.
The Iraqi leader had asked the Kurds to “stop the operations room for ISIS” and had implied that perhaps the Kurds had assisted the militants, saying the government had “diagnosed the internal and external parties who supported the conspiracy that took place in Iraq.” The Iraqi government halted all cargo flights to Kurdistan on Thursday, said Capt. Nasser al-Bandar, the head of civil aviation in the Iraqi government. Kurdistan responded by halting its cargo flights to Baghdad, he said.
Kurdistan is a semiautonomous region encompassing three provinces in the north of Iraq. The Kurds are represented in the Iraqi Parliament, and hold government positions including those of president, foreign minister, trade minister and health minister. The Iraqi leader had asked the Kurds to “stop the operations room for ISIS” and had implied that the Kurds had assisted the Sunni militants who swept into northern Iraq and seized territory in June, saying the government had “diagnosed the internal and external parties who supported the conspiracy that took place in Iraq.”
“He has become hysterical and has lost his balance,” read a statement from the office of the Kurdish president, Massoud Barzani. Kurdistan is a semiautonomous region encompassing three provinces in northern Iraq. The Kurds are represented in the Iraqi Parliament and hold offices in the Shiite-led national government, including president, foreign minister, trade minister and health minister. However, they also have their own Parliament and regional government, and have foreign missions in several countries.
“He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others for these failures,” Mr. Barzani’s office said in the statement. “He has become hysterical and has lost his balance,” the Kurdish president, Massoud Barzani, said in a statement, referring to Mr. Maliki. “He is doing everything he can to justify his failures and put the blame on others.”
The tension reflects anger from many Iraqis who believe that the Kurds used the push by ISIS — and the ensuing security vacuum after many Iraqi troops fled — to seize control of the oil-rich Kirkuk region, as well as towns in Diyala Province and a number of border villages where there are substantial Kurdish-speaking populations. Many Iraqis believe that the Kurds used the push by ISIS — and the ensuing security vacuum after many Iraqi government troops fled the fighting — to seize control of the oil-rich Kirkuk region, as well as towns in Diyala Province and a number of border villages where there are substantial Kurdish-speaking populations. The Kurds believe that these areas are part of their domain.
The Kurds believe these areas are part of their domain. The Iraqi Constitution anticipates a referendum in those areas that would allow residents to determine whether they should join the Kurdish region. The back and forth is also part of a risky political calculation by Mr. Maliki and Mr. Barzani that each will garner points with his own loyalists by criticizing the other. Many Shiites feel betrayed by the Kurds after their seizure of Kirkuk and other border areas, and support Mr. Maliki’s accusations. For their part, the Kurds believe that they are part of a movement to remove Mr. Maliki and that the tough talk will rally his opponents as well as reinforce the Kurdish position on Kirkuk.
Mr. Barzani’s office noted that the Kurdish region and its capital, Erbil, had once been a haven for Mr. Maliki and said that it was Mr. Maliki who had ceded ground to the ISIS militants, not the Kurds. “Escalation of the situation now with Kurdistan could be in the prime minister’s favor,” said Yassin al-Bakeri, a political science professor at Al Nahrain University in Baghdad, “and will satisfy his supporters by presenting him as the hero and the defender of Iraqi unity.”
“Kurdistan is proud that Erbil has always served as a refuge for oppressed people, including yourself when you fled the former dictatorship,” the statement said, “Now Erbil is a refuge for people fleeing from your dictatorship.” “But if we are talking on the level of how to run the crisis, this is seen as a failure because he is the prime minister of the federal government,” Professor Bakeri said. “Any escalation does not serve the general interest, because the current situation does not allow him to open more than one front at a time.”
A former speaker for the Kurdish Parliament in Erbil, Abdul Salam Birwari, expressed the long-held frustration of Kurds and Sunnis with Mr. Maliki’s policies, which they have regarded as discriminatory. “We have sacrificed to hold Iraq together, while he breaks it apart,” he said. Mr. Barzani’s office noted that the Kurdish region and its capital, Erbil, had once been a haven for Mr. Maliki, and said it was Mr. Maliki who had ceded ground to the ISIS militants, not the Kurds. However, many opponents of the Maliki government have also found refuge in Kurdistan, including many Sunnis who are insisting that Mr. Maliki, a Shiite, step down.
“The pesh merga are fighting against ISIS, not his army,” he said, referring to the Kurdish forces. “Kurdistan is proud that Erbil has always served as a refuge for oppressed people, including yourself when you fled the former dictatorship,” the statement said. “Now Erbil is a refuge for people fleeing from your dictatorship.”
A former speaker for the Kurdish Parliament in Erbil, Abdul Salam Barwari, expressed the long-held frustration of Kurds and Sunnis with Mr. Maliki’s policies, which they regard as discriminatory. “We have sacrificed to hold Iraq together, while he breaks it apart,” he said.