President Barzani: There is another chance to find a solution to the problems between Erbil and Baghdad

On his return from a visit to Baghdad, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, President Masoud Barzani held a press conference with a number of media outlets and the following are highlights of the interview:

"The purpose of our visit to Baghdad was to show our good intentions and to emphasize our peaceful position. We have always affirmed that all disputes with Baghdad must be resolved through dialogue, understanding and mutual respect. We were not the ones who chose the opposite way to resolve differences, it was Baghdad that in the past closed all the doors and chose a different way", the President said.

In relation to the new phase in Baghdad- Erbil relations, President Barzani remarked "There is a new opportunity for Iraq and Kurdistan to find solutions to our problems, the new Prime Minister of the Iraqi Federal Government Mr. Adel Abdul Mahdi is a great friend of Kurdistan and he is a man who understands the issue of the Kurds and Kurdistan because he lived in Kurdistan and we hope that together we can deal with our previous problems. I informed him that we with all our power support him and I hope that we will be able to reach a good understanding with him".

"I went to Baghdad in the hope that we could start a new chapter, and we met with all the parties and political forces, our friends, who maintained friendship with us in the most difficult period, as well as those who did their best to harm us and stood against us with all their capabilities. I would like to stress the point that any step and initiative from our side will not be in contradiction to our stated position, our principles and the strategic and basic objectives of the People of Kurdistan. We discussed all the outstanding issues including the issue of the Kurdistan territories outside the Kurdistan Region and we shared the view that the solution should be in accordance with Article 140. I don’t want to over- estimate my optimism, but although the formation of the new Iraqi Government is not yet complete, I am very much hopeful that we will be able to resolve most of our problems and differences. For our part, we are committed to the contents of the Constitution and all the agreements, while we will be offering our support to address the problems and the hurdles”, the President highlighted.

He also emphasized the importance of learning from the past and expressed his optimism about the future when he said “I think that the parties in Baghdad and after passing through all these considerable and bitter experiences have reached the conviction that differences can’t be resolved without dialogue and understanding. I am somewhat optimistic and one has to be optimistic rather than pessimistic. I once again assure you that I will not make a promise to raise the expectations of our masses, but we will do our best to improve the economic, political, military and security conditions. After Baghdad we went to Najaf and met with Mr Moqtada al-Sadr, he was very responsive."

On the visit of his Excellency to the Gulf States, he said: "Then we went to the UAE and then to Kuwait. The two sides expressed their pleasure in our visit to Baghdad and expressed their readiness to play a positive role in helping all Iraqis and Kurdistan to solve the problems. Our relations are ancient and historic with Kuwait, the UAE and the other Arab countries, but our scheduled visit was to these two countries only”.

Regarding Kurdistan Region’s relations with the neighbouring states, President Barzani mentioned that KRG has good relations with Iran and Turkey and the other members of the international community and said that they support the government to have positive and effective relations that work for the interests of the peoples.