ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - President Masoud Barzani on Monday called on Baghdad and Erbil to begin talks to resolve lingering disputes, warning that growing regional tensions and internal political divisions could deepen Iraq’s crises if left unaddressed.
In a message released early Monday by the Barzani Headquarters, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) urged "the federal Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government [KRG] to convene in order to resolve the issues and problems, to reach an agreement, and to prevent those opportunistic individuals who intend to further deepen these crises and problems.”
He underlined that “at a time when there is significant war and tension in our region, Iraq is under the threat of various crises, and political differences between the parties have intensified.”
President Barzani’s call comes as disputes have intensified between Baghdad and the KRG in recent days over a request by Iraq to export oil via the Kurdistan Region's pipeline to Turkey, as well as longstanding financial issues and recent security concerns in the Kurdistan Region.
The KRG’s natural resources ministry on Sunday accused Iraq’s federal oil ministry of distorting facts regarding the issue of exporting oil through the Region’s pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port, insisting that Baghdad is maintaining a “suffocating embargo” on the Region and has not moved to “confront” attacks by Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq on Kurdistan’s energy infrastructure.