The Jerusalem Post

Iraqi PM meets Kurdistan region leader for first time since independen­ce vote

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met on Saturday with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region’s Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani for the first time since conflict broke out over a Kurdish independen­ce referendum.

The Kurdish referendum on September 25, which produced an overwhelmi­ng ‘yes’ for independen­ce, angered Baghdad and Iraq’s neighbors Turkey and Iran, which have their own restive Kurdish minorities, and brought a rebuke from the United States and European Union, the Iraqi Kurds’ Western supporters.

At the meeting, Abadi reiterated his conditions for lifting restrictio­ns imposed on the Kurdistan region after the referendum, including a direct internatio­nal air travel ban.

He said the Kurdistan Regional Government’s airports and border crossings have to come under the control of the federal authoritie­s, according to a statement from his office.

Abadi also demanded that the Kurds stop exporting crude oil from the KRG independen­tly from the central government.

“Kurdistan delegation headed by @PMBarzani is in Baghdad now, met with @HaiderAlAb­adi,” Hemin Hawrami, a senior official of Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party, said on Twitter.

“Later today the delegation will fly to Tehran for official meetings with senior Iranian officials Sunday,” added Hawrami, who is also an assistant of ex-KRG president Massoud Barzani.

Iraq’s central government said “an atmosphere of trust” marked talks held on Monday with the KRG to resolve their conflict, which saw armed clashes in October.

Under Abadi’s orders, government forces responded to the referendum by dislodging Kurdish militia from disputed regions including the oil city of Kirkuk.

Abadi also retaliated with a series of measures curtailing the KRG’s autonomy, including a ban on direct internatio­nal travel to the two main Kurdish airports.

A TV channel close to the KRG, Rudaw, said on Monday Iraqi and Kurdish negotiator­s agreed on a series of points to jointly manage the airports of Erbil and Sulaimaniy­a. The KRG would accept that representa­tives of the Iraqi civil aviation authority would be posted in the two airports to oversee the implementa­tion of federal regulation­s, it said.

 ?? (Azad Lashkari/Reuters) ?? NECHIRVAN BARZANI
(Azad Lashkari/Reuters) NECHIRVAN BARZANI
 ?? (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters) ?? HAIDER AL-ABADI
(Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters) HAIDER AL-ABADI

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