The Kurds signed up to the new government in Baghdad this week under great US pressure, confessed Mawlud Bawamurad, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) minister for parliamentary affairs. He said the US had made its stepped-up military support in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) conditional on there being a government in Baghdad.
Rudaw: Does that mean the Kurds joined the Baghdad government by American demand?
Mawlud Bawamurad: Certainly and 100 percent. The US president, his vice president and most of America had made it a condition that, unless there is an inclusive government in Baghdad, they wouldn’t be willing to fight terrorist groups and the IS in Iraq. So the Kurds had to go to Baghdad.
Rudaw: What guarantees are there that, with the formation of this new government, the international community will not henceforth bypass Erbil and send all its help to the Kurds through Baghdad?
Mawlud Bawamurad: Their support has been good enough to make the Kurdish leaders say, “Okay, we will join the Baghdad government conditionally for three months.”
Rudaw: Don’t you think the Shiites were also in a weak position in the negotiations, given the fact that half the country is now under IS control?
Mawlud Bawamurad: Well, exactly. Do you think the Shiites would have been willing to negotiate with anyone had it not been for American pressure? We should always remember that the Shiite leaders want Iraq and its government to have a Shiite identity and image. So we shouldn’t have too many expectations of them.
Rudaw: Do you think Abadi’s government would be any different from that of Maliki?
Mawlud Bawamurad: I don’t think Abadi’s government would be able to do that much for the Kurds or for the Iraqis themselves, and that is because other Shiite leaders will not allow him much influence and power. What is important is that our participation in it is conditional and the witness to our conditions is America.
Rudaw: Don’t you think the Shiites have been trying to flatter the Sunnis in order to get them into the government?
Mawlud Bawamurad: Without a doubt. Let me tell you this:
if the Sunnis themselves do not turn against the IS, all the Shiites of the world will not be able to defeat this group, because in that case it will become a full-scale religious and holy war between Shiites and Sunnis, which is exactly what the IS wants. Unless the Sunnis are satisfied in the government, this war with the IS will go one forever. The Sunnis have to get together, form their own army and tell the IS, “Please leave this country. It is not your country, but mine.”
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link to rudaw.net]
Last Edited by Skjellyfetti on 09/11/2014 12:35 AM
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