British pledge to protect rights of Kurdistan — within Iraq constitution

The British prime minister yesterday vowed to protect the rights of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, within the boundaries of the Iraqi constitution.

Theresa May, in a phone call to Kurdish prime minister Nechirvan Barzani, underlined Britain’s continued support for Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government.

Baghdad and Erbil have quarrelled over territory and oil revenue sharing since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. But tensions soared after the autonomous Kurdish region decided to hold a vote on Kurdish independence in September.

The vote was declared illegitimate by Iraq’s central government, although voters in the Kurdish region and Kurdish-held areas elsewhere overwhelmingly backed secession.

“The UK will continue to fight to protect the identity and rights of the Kurdish people under the Iraqi constitution,” a Downing Street spokesman said yesterday.

Mrs May reiterated the UK’s respect for the territorial integrity and unity of Iraq, while maintaining the importance of dialogue to solve issues between Baghdad and Erbil, the Kurdistan capital.

She and Mr Nechirvan agreed on the importance of negotiating an agreement over federal control, joint management of the borders and a resumption of international flights to Kurdistan’s airports in Erbil and the city of Suleimaniyah.

In response to the Kurdish independence referendum in September, Baghdad clamped down on the KRG by halting all international flights in and out of the region, and launched a military operation that recaptured the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas held by Kurdish forces. These disputed areas lie outside the Kurdish region, but are claimed by Baghdad and Erbil.

Last month, the Iraqi federal supreme court ruled that the Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional and the results void, prohibiting the region from seceding.

In response, the KRG said it would respect the supreme court’s ruling, which declared that no Iraqi province could secede from Baghdad.

The British prime minister welcomed the KRG’s recognition of the ruling that Iraq is unified and indivisible.

Meanwhile, Mrs May invited Mr Barzani, the Kurdish prime minister, for talks in London.

“The prime minister said she would be pleased to see prime minister Barzani in London in due course to make further progress on these matters,” the Downing Street spokesman said.