Baghdad strengthens control over Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, shaking hands with the head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Masoud Barzani, upon his arrival in Erbil. Photo: Prime Minister’s press office
Baghdad – Iraq is using a period of relative stability to assert more control over the oil-rich autonomous Kurdistan region that has long had fraught relations with federal authorities, analysts and politicians say.
Long-simmering disputes between Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of the northern region, came to a head recently after several Supreme Court rulings seen by the Kurds as an attempt to weaken the region’s autonomy.
Regional Prime Minister Masrour Barzani warned last week of “conspiracies aimed at undermining and dismantling the Kurdistan region” with “internal support within Kurdistan”.
The pressure is aimed at Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) which has been locked in a never-ending rivalry with the other main party the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Kurds in Iraq were persecuted under the Sunni Arab-dominated regime of the late dictator Saddam Hussein but the 2005 constitution formalised their autonomy after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam.
But mending the volatile ties between the central government in Baghdad and Kurdistan has been a persistent challenge.
Consecutive federal governments have long been preoccupied with “crises and complex challenges”, said a senior official in Baghdad in reference to years of war, the fight against the Islamic State group and anti-government protests.
“That is why they never looked into the mistakes made by Kurdistan… (such as) oil deals and exports, the region’s financial system and several illegal decisions that have been taken”, he added on condition of anonymity.
But, he added: “Now is the time to fix these mistakes.”
Despite facing the same problems as Baghdad, such as endemic corruption, fractious politics and entrenched ruling elites, the US-backed Kurdistan region has portrayed itself as a hub of stability and economic growth in contrast to the conflicts and crises that have besieged federal Iraq.
Last year, civil servants and lawyers from the city of Sulaimaniyah, the PUK stronghold, had taken the regional and national authorities to court over unpaid salaries in Kurdistan, where officials have long accused Baghdad of not sending the necessary funds.