Kurdistan Region – The prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region Nechirvan Barzani said that leaders in Baghdad remain stuck in a bygone era of force and authoritarian rule, instead of seeking “new approaches” in disputes with the Kurds.

“The main problem of Iraqi leaders is that they still don’t know that you can only erase a bloody past with new approaches,” Barzani said in an interview with Iraq’s Almada newspaper.

Erbil has been locked in a string of serious rows with the Shiite-led Arab government in Baghdad over control of energy reserves, security in disputed territories claimed by both sides and the Kurdish share of the national budget.

Late last year the two sides came close to war south of oil-rich Kirkuk when Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki deployed his newly-formed Dijla forces into the province, parts of which are in dispute. But tensions eased after both sides agreed to form a joint security force.

“I myself visited Baghdad and held talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on all the issues between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region and we both felt that national dialogue is needed to break the ice,” Barzani said.

Following his visit, the two sides agreed to form a number of committees to study the points of contention, but Barzani told Almada that the committees alone would not end disagreements.

“We acknowledged that talks between the committees alone aren’t enough,” he said. “But initiatives were needed in order to break the psychological barrier that existed between Iraqi leaders.”

Iraq’s Kurdish leaders have been extremely critical of Maliki, accusing him of increasing authoritarianism. Barzani said that, after decades of hostility with the Kurds, Baghdad still had not understood that issues cannot be resolved by force.

“History has proven that the use of force cannot resolve the issues,” Barzani told the daily. “A man who comes to power and believes that he is the strongest will never solve anything.”

The prime minister added that former dictator Saddam Hussein had felt he was the eternal leader of Iraq, and with that mentality he led the country from one disaster to another.

Barzani added that close to a century of war between Iraq and the Kurds has created an atmosphere of distrust between both sides.











RUDAW