British Economist: Iraq’s Kurds are turning to full independence
British Economist: Iraq’s Kurds are turning to full independence
Date: Monday 06/05/2013 09:37 am
Bible scholars say, that the Garden of Eden was in southern Iraq, and possibly in the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. But when he thinks Iraqis in Paradise mundane they look to the north, towards Kurdistan, and the reason is very simple, during the festival of Nowruz (Spring Festival), which was celebrated last month, the influx of hikers to meadows and valleys of the autonomous region that are embellished flowers and interspersed with streams flowing from the mountains covered snow.
Not the picturesque nature of Iraqi Kurdistan is the only attracts the Iraqis, but also the system and quiet Alnspaan, and security
And wealth enjoyed by the five million residents of Iraq’s three Kurdish provinces, which have become the subject of envy by the remaining 25 million of Iraq’s population who live in the greater part of it.
Since 2011 received this part of Iraq 31 thousand Syrian refugees, nearly all of them Kurds, where he was to welcome them as brothers. The United Nations says the number could reach 35 thousand by the end of the year. The Middle Fit Kurds, Iranians, who prefer to work at construction sites scattered on the land area of Switzerland, and from the north come aircraft loaded with Turkish businessmen, who seek to profit from the land is very rich in oil, scattered Alabakh smell all over the place. Iraq is now the second-largest country for Turkish exports after Germany, goes 70% of that trade to the Kurdish region, and 4,000 trucks cross borders between the two countries every day.
Not always the case continues on this way, in a dusty spot there is a group of tents in the area of Dumez, a camp sheltering more than 50 thousand of landless Syrians outside the booming city of Dohuk.
Safe haven embargo imposed by the United Nations allowed the Kurdish fighters, the peshmerga, to regain control over the region in 1991, but that the autonomous region useless coast surrounded by powers lurking, all from Iran, Syria and Turkey fears that affect the advancement of Kurdish nationalism on its own minorities. There have also been a problem at home, the policy has worked to create a language gap between the east and west of the Iraqi Kurdistan, which sparked a war between brothers 1994-1997.
The tensions still existed since that time, along complaints of rampant greed and nepotism in the ruling parties dominate the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Iraq’s Kurds are also eager to see themselves as independent officially on Iraq great, and that means keeping control of land which lies technically outside the three provinces, and recognized in all parts of Iraq as Kurdish, and in particular the city multi-ethnic Kurdish Historically, the city of Kirkuk.
However, most Kurds believe that patience has run out, despite the fact that the Kurdistan Regional Government has become receive 17% of Iraq’s federal budget, which is now a huge amount of thanks to the increasing oil exports in Iraq.
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 was able to Kurds in Iraq rebuild villages, increasing GDP per capita 10 times, and maintained law and order, and turned the peshmerga to a large army, and despite the fact that Baghdad is exposed to blackouts on a daily basis, issued the Kurdistan Regional Government surplus power to the Iraqi cities adjacent to it, and with their disagreement on the inside could Kurds have to deal successfully with the federal government, and believe in the good conditions for themselves in the Constitution of 2005, the high and win the job in the capital.
Officials did not speak Kurdish independence yet, but several factors indicate their direction so, and one of these factors dire situation for the rest of Iraq. Given the outcome of the case of Iraq bombings, al-Qaeda, and the concern of a possible fall of the Syrian government’s pro-Shia, a growing number of Iraqi Shiites whispering the need to allow the Kurds that boarding by themselves, to make it easier for them to control what the rest of the country.
At the same time became Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is increasingly a dictator in Iraq, and more confrontational toward the Kurds. In December last year sent troops to Kirkuk, prompting the Kurdistan Regional Government to mobilize the peshmerga. In March, despite objections from the Kurdish parliament passed the federal budget by $ 118 billion, of which only $ 650 million to pay the Kurdistan Regional Government says that debt worth $ 3.5 billion owed to foreign oil companies. And the withdrawal of angry Kurds and their ministers and their deputies federal parliamentarians, no longer now have no formal representation in Baghdad. The Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who often calm the unrest, he was sick in Germany since last December.
Whatever the wishes of the politicians, the oil reserves may re-demarcation of the borders of Iraq. The Kurds say that the Iraqi constitution gives freedom to the autonomous region to develop new fields, and were able to attract foreign companies with great offers to production sharing, and believes Baghdad, said this is illegal, and that the oil belongs to the people, and you must go all proceeds to the treasury of the central government. Baghdad also disturbed that some of the deals in excess of 50 and signed by the Kurdistan Regional Government located in the disputed territories.
As long as the majority of Iraq’s oil output comes from the south, and as long as the south controls the export pipelines, the Baghdad upper hand, but it turns out that the Kurdistan lot of oil, up proven reserves are 45 billion barrels, accounting for one-third or less than the Iraq’s oil, but still almost double, and increasing production capacity Kurdish quickly, it is assumed that up to one million barrels per day by 2015, or two million by 2020, says an executive at a company Genel, a British company – Turkish, is one of the largest companies operating in Kurdistan.
Has resulted in differences with Baghdad repeatedly to close the tube extended to the President of Turkey, which led to an increase in the size of the amount of oil exported by truck. The Kurdistan Regional Government expects completion of a pipeline that extends to Turkey by September. Turkey is keen, at the same time, to diversify its economy away from dependence on Iran and Russia.
There is also a contributing factor is that many of the energy companies in Turkey close politically from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which – not coincidentally – a line in the recent significant steps to achieve peace with the Kurds in Turkey.
Officials in the Turkish capital, intimating that the deal work includes exploration, production and transfer of all of the oil and natural gas, this possibility is causing concern to the government in Baghdad, not only because Maliki looks to Turkey through the lenses sectarianism as a Sunni state intrusive, if managed Kurdistan region of Iraq secure oil wealth independent it can to other parts of Iraq to follow his footsteps, and this concern is shared by allies contradictory of the biggest allies of Iraq, namely Iran and the United States, has moved Americans repeatedly to curb Kurdish ambitions to encourage Baghdad to accommodate them, but the aspirations of the Kurds and Turks look bigger than the settled Conventions marred by a lot of uncertainty.
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