Iraq and Kurdistan agree to withdraw forces

[Natsidruk]

Iraq and Kurdistan agree to eventually withdraw forces from disputed areas

Iraq's president says Baghdad, Kurds agree to eventually withdraw forces from disputed areas

December 14, 2012

ERBIL/BAGHDAD,— Iraq's government and autonomous Kurdistan on Thursday agreed to defuse a tense standoff between their troops by gradually withdrawing them from disputed territories along their internal border.

Baghdad's Arab-led central government and Kurdistan, embroiled in a dispute over oil and land, both dispatched troops last month in the second military build-up to threaten the country's fragile unity since U.S. troops left a year ago.

A statement from Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who has mediated in past political disputes, said both regions would withdraw troops once local police took over security in disputed areas, helped by local organizations representing ethnic groups.

"Security in these areas will be controlled and run locally by people there as well as local police. After the formation of these local groups, troops will be withdrawn," Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki's media advisor Ali al-Moussawi said.

The agreement calls for both sides to eventually withdraw their military forces from disputed areas in Iraq's north, though there is no timetable for how soon the drawdown might take place.

Under the plan announced by President Jalal Talabani's office, local residents in the contested areas would oversee their own security. Committees will be set up to form the security forces according to the percentage of ethnic groups in each area,www.ekurd.net after which Iraqi and Kurdish military forces would start to pull back.

The agreement, which the statement said is supported by al-Maliki and the president of the Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, also called on both sides to halt all media campaigns that would lead to more tension between the two parties. It did not say when the deal was cemented.

The deal appears to firm up a preliminary agreement announced by al-Maliki last week.

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for al-Maliki, confirmed the accord but said it is too early to say how soon any troops might be pulled back from disputed areas.

"The real test will be the actual withdrawal of the deployed forces," he said. "I am optimistic and we hope that this crisis will end for good."

But Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish lawmaker in the federal parliament, expressed skepticism about the deal.

"The problem lies in the details," he said. "The whole thing depends on mutual trust and a sincere determination to reach a solution, but regrettably the trust between both sides is missing here."

Officials in the Kurdistan Regional Government could not be immediately reached for comment.

Tensions have been rising in recent months between Baghdad and the Kurds, who have considerable autonomy in their northern self-rule region. The Kurds were angered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's recent decision to form a new military command to oversee security forces bordering the Kurdish enclave.

The troop standoff underscored the depth of tensions between Baghdad and ethnic Kurds over regional autonomy, control of the country's oil wealth and contested land in the areas where both claim historical rights.

Their clash is raising questions about Baghdad's federal unity with Kurdistan, which already runs its own local government and armed forces. Kurds are straining against what they see as Baghdad's heavy-handed attempts to centralize power at the expense of autonomy.

In November, Kurdish forces and Iraqi army and police sent troops and armoured vehicles to reinforce positions around towns like the sensitive, ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, which sits above some of the world's largest oil reserves.

Tuz Khurmatu, on November 16, 2012, witnessed fierce clashes between Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Tigris (Dijla) Operations Command TOC troops, during which Two people were killed and 10 others wounded.

Barzani ordered its Peshmerga security forces on high alert, a statement issued on November 17, 2012 said, attributing the move to clashes with central government forces. An Iraqi general however said that the clashes in question came during an arrest attempt and did not involve the Peshmerga.

Also Massoud Barzani said on November 17, 2012, the region was fully prepared to defend itself, after a skirmish between Iraqi forces and Kurdish troops along their disputed internal border.

Iraq's Kurdistan region has sent reinforcements to a disputed area on November 24, 2012, where its troops are involved in a standoff with the Iraqi army, a senior Kurdish military official said, despite calls on both sides for dialogue to calm the situation.

Massoud Barzani, the president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, inspected Kurdish Peshmerga security forces in the disputed north Iraq province of Kirkuk on December 10, 2012.

While Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki stressed that "the movement of the Iraqi army must be free on every inch of the land of Iraq, and provinces or territory have no right to object", describing the movement of the Peshmerga in the disputed areas as "legal and a constitutional violation."

Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki on December 13, 2012, rejects foreign countries meditation to resolve the crisis between Baghdad and Erbil.

The Iraqi army and Kurdish troops have previously come close to confrontation only to pull back at the last moment. Politicians, diplomats and analysts said neither side had much taste for conflict but they hoped to gain political points to consolidate Arab and Kurdish support for upcoming elections.

Washington intervened to end a similar standoff in August near the Syrian border and U.S. officials were quickly in contact with Iraqi and Kurdish officials to try to ease tensions last month after the Tuz Khurmato clash.

Relations between Baghdad and Kurdistan have frayed further since the Kurdish region signed oil agreements with majors like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, deals it says are its constitutional right. The central government of the OPEC member state dismisses the agreements as illegal attempts to undermine its control over oil resources.

[dyaoko]

as long as the iraqi army get the hell out of kerkuk, it is a win for Kurdistan, because Kurdistan's goal was not to let that dijla militia to come to kerkuk and if they go out , it mean Maleki backed off ... but we should find more details of this news

[Piling]

As Maliki projects to become President of Kurdistan, he is starting his electoral campaign and shows to Kurds that he is a good guy

[Anthea]

As Maliki projects to become President of Kurdistan, he is starting his electoral campaign and shows to Kurds that he is a good guy

Maliki only interest in Kurds is stealing Kurdish oil

[Natsidruk]

As Maliki projects to become President of Kurdistan, he is starting his electoral campaign and shows to Kurds that he is a good guy

Maliki only interest in Kurds is stealing Kurdish oil

True..if there wasn't any oil in Kirkuk area, he wouldn't care that much :/