Hemin Hawrami in interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat spoke about the impending Kurdish referendum, Erbil’s relations with Baghdad and the potential liberation process of Mosul

The Head of Kurdistan Democratic Party’s Foreign Relations Office, Hemin Hawrami, said during an interview with Middle East-based newspaper, Al-Sharq al-Awsat that a high-level delegation from the region will travel to Baghdad to discuss the issue of referendum, economic ties and the liberation process of Mosul.

Tensions between the governments of Kurdistan and Iraq have been long-standing after both sides are at a stalemate to rectify the economic problems despite ample opportunities to resolve all outstanding issues.

On the topic of referendum, Mr Hawrami said Kurdistan has already been through two-phases since the establishment of the Iraqi state, the first from 1921 until 2003, the second from 2003 until 2014 and in both periods the Kurds suffered from political persecution from the former Baa’ath Party regime and being bombarded with chemical attacks during the Anfal campaign in the 1980s.

In the post-Saddam era, the Iraqi government did not fully implement Article 140 of the constitution, which Kurdistan had been subjected to receive its portion of the annual budget and in 2014, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decided to suspend the Kurds’ share of the constitutionally allocated budget.

Speaking about the referendum, Mr Hawrami said every political party has the right to express its own opinion on the concept of an independent Kurdish state, but there may be objections to the timing and mechanism of the strategy and added they must concentrate on the decision of the people of Kurdistan to implement a peaceful and democratic voting process. He referred to the latest poll conducted by the American University in Duhok that 84% of people were in favour of voting for an independent Kurdistan.

A high-profile delegation will visit Baghdad for talks on the current political developments and attempt to talk about the issues facing both sides such as the war against the Islamic State and the liberation process of Mosul and the aftermath because the conditions of the city after its liberation is the most sensitive for the Kurdistan administration from the military perspective.

And whether the Kurdish role in the process is the same role assigned to the attacking forces, Hawrami said,  “the Kurdish role in the liberation of Mosul process a very important role, Mosul cannot be fully liberated without the Kurds and the Peshmerga forces, now there are six main ways to attack on the connector, and is in the way of Qayyarah south of Mosul and Alkwyr through  Khazar Ba'shiqah and Noran and through Vfil Mosul Dam, and via ASCII Mosul, it is these six roads through only one, however, the Iraqi army, which by Qayyarah, while the other five are ways, however, the Peshmerga forces.”

Regarding the political situation in Kurdistan, Hawrami said, “we have a political problem in the Kurdistan region for violations of compatibility. I did the MDC in the Kurdistan parliament meeting on 21 June last year, and their insistence on Parliament to hold a meeting on August 19 at a time when all political parties have agreed to postpone that meeting, in the presence of the Americans and the United Nations, and thereafter attacked our headquarters within the province of Sulaymaniyah, now there is a political problem.”