Kurdish Independence Good For Iraq: Iraqi Politician By Hevidar Ahmed

An independent Kurdistan would still face numerous challenges though, al-Juburi said. “Domestic divisions and their energy resources are their weak points,” he said, noting that the region’s geographical location meant the Kurds were reliant on their neighbours to export their oil.

　

Kurdish independence good for Iraq: Iraqi politician

By

HEVIDAR AHMED

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdish independence is inevitable and will be a good thing for Iraq, according to Sunni Arab Iraqi Parliamentarian Misha’n al-Juburi.
In an interview with Rudaw, al-Juburi – a member of the newly-formed al-Arabiya Coalition – said the Islamic State (ISIS) threat convinced him of need of rapprochement with the Kurds. “After the resurgence of the Islamic State, I decided that it is time to resolve our differences,” he said. “Together we must protect Iraq and the Kurdistan Region from this group.”
al-Juburi said he was a friend of the Kurds but also that his role in Baghdad was “to raise awareness of the Kurdish plan to divide Iraq and deepen sectarian divisions.”
It is clear the Kurds are maneuvering towards independence, he said. “All their efforts are to make this happen.”
“I understand why the Kurds have concerns about a strong united Iraq,” he said, blaming former prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki for threatening the Kurds. “He was an autocratic leader just like the former regimes in Iraq,” he said. “We must no longer allow for another dictator to emerge in Iraq.”
He acknowledged that the Kurds had been shrewd strategists and superior lobbyists in post-Saddam Iraq but also blamed a host of actors for planning the division of the country. “The Kurds have been lobbying the United States’ politicians better than the Arabs,” he said. “If I were in their shoes I would have done the same thing – working toward dividing Iraq.”
The Kurds were not the only group who would benefit from such a division. “Israel wants the region divided into smaller states,” he claimed.
He also blamed the Coalition Provisional Authority and Kurds for masterminding a constitution “that only aims to divide Iraq.” Jiburi was one of a minority of Sunni Arab politicians to support the constitution in the 2005 referendum.
A one-time Saddam Hussein loyalist, al-Juburi fled into exile in the 1990s after his involvement in a planned coup was uncovered. He later returned as an ally of the Kurds, seizing Mosul after the 2003 US-led invasion. Later corruption allegations saw him return again to temporary exile in Syria, according to a 2006 New York Times article.
The political chameleon said eventual Kurdish independence would actually be a boon for Iraq though. “Only then Sunnis and Shiite would stop killing each other,” al-Juburi said. “All the problems will go away.”
But he warned that Kirkuk remaining under KRG control was untenable, not only because Baghdad would never accept it but also because it could revitalize divisions between the Kurds.
“If the Kurds continue to remain in the disputed territories, they might risk a civil war among themselves,” he said. “Right now, the disagreements between the PUK and KDP are mainly over Kirkuk.”
An independent Kurdistan would still face numerous challenges though, al-Juburi said. “Domestic divisions and their energy resources are their weak points,” he said, noting that the region’s geographical location meant the Kurds were reliant on their neighbours to export their oil.
For now, however, realpolitik dictates that Baghdad and Erbil have a shared interest in combatting ISIS. “The truth is that what the Kurds have been able to achieve against ISIS others failed to do.”

　

Photo: Peshmerga on the frontlines: looking to the future

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/261120141