Iraq, Kurds hold second round of talks
Al Abadi said the talks are meant to prepare for the peaceful deployment of Iraqi troops at the border
Iraqi forces and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters yesterday started a second round of talks to resolve a conflict over control of the Kurdistan region’s border crossings, Iraqi state TV said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi on Friday ordered a 24-hour suspension of military operations against Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. The two sides held a first round of talks on Friday and Saturday.
Al Abadi said the talks are meant to prepare for the peaceful deployment of Iraqi troops at the border crossings with Turkey, Iran and Syria in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.
Clashes broke out between the two sides after Iraqi forces captured the oil-rich city of Kirkuk from the Peshmerga, in a surprise offensive ordered by Al Abadi after the Kurds held an independence referendum in northern Iraq on September 25. Kirkuk is part of so-called disputed areas, claimed by both the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
Disputed areas
“The second round of talks about deploying federal troops in the disputed areas has started,” State TV said, giving no further details.
Al Abadi wants to take control of the disputed areas and the border crossings, including one in the Fish-Khabur area through which an oil export pipeline crosses into Turkey, carrying Iraqi and Kurdish crude oil.
The KRG on Wednesday proposed an immediate ceasefire, a suspension of the referendum result and “starting an open dialogue with the federal government based on the Iraqi constitution” — a call rejected by Baghdad.
US-backed Iraqi government forces, Iranian-backed paramilitaries and Kurdish fighters fought alongside each other to defeat Daesh, but the alliance has faltered with the militants largely defeated in the country.
The multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk, which lies outside the KRG’s official boundaries, fell to Iraqi forces without much resistance on October 16. But the Peshmerga began to fight back as they withdrew closer to the core of the Kurdish region.