Disputes over territory and money are gripping the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, highlighting the disagreements among Kurdish political parties as well as between the governments in Arbil and Baghdad.
Budgetary shortfalls persist in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), despite the deal it struck with Baghdad in September to jointly export oil from Kirkuk fields and split the proceeds. (The Iraqis have withheld payment from those sales until disputes over other oil exports in the region are resolved.) Austerity measures instituted in February continue to drive discontent among civil servants in the KRG, especially in Suleimaniyah province, where teachers upset over pay cuts have staged several strikes and protests. KRG officials have said they are considering canceling the school year in Suleimaniyah and Halabja provinces if an agreement with teachers cannot be reached. The fact that Kurdish peshmerga forces are exempt from the salary reductions has aggravated tensions among the region's other civil servants. On Nov. 12, striking teachers threatened to take their grievances directly to the government in Baghdad in hopes that it will intervene.
The discord has also caused increased strife between the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Gorran movement, the region's newest opposition party. Some Gorran members have also called for going around the Kurdish government to deal with the Iraqis directly on the issues stemming from austerity. For its part, though, the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi affirmed that any request for help from Baghdad must come from Kurdistan's parliament. This suggests that the Iraqi government does not want to become embroiled in the Kurds' internal issues or encourage further decentralization of power by circumventing Arbil.
Iraqi and Kurdish officials, meanwhile, still cannot agree on what will happen to the territory captured by peshmerga units fighting in the Iraqi-led offensive to oust the Islamic State from Mosul. KRG President Massoud Barzani, who met with peshmerga leaders Nov. 16 near the front lines of that battle, is advocating for opening negotiations on the matter. He cited an agreement between the Kurdish fighters and the United States that would allow them to occupy territory they took from the Islamic State. Al-Abadi's office, however, said Nov. 17 that Baghdad has not changed its stance that once the Mosul fight is over, the peshmerga must return to their previous positions.
Clearly, the cooperation between Arbil and Baghdad depends on the issue under discussion. Baghdad is willing to side with the KRG in disputes that could disrupt the Kurdish government's sovereignty and upset the delicate balance of power in Iraq. But on matters that threaten both the Iraqi and Kurdish governments, such as land disputes, cooperation takes a back seat to self-interest.
