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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Kurd Ministers, MPs to End Boycotts |
| 2013-05-02 |
| [An Nahar] Iraqi Kurdish ministers and MPs will end boycotts of parliament and the cabinet begun in March, the prime minister of the autonomous Kurdistan region said on Wednesday. A meeting that included Kurdish political parties "decided to return the Kurdish ministers and representatives to Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... ... and participate in sessions of the Iraqi cabinet and parliament," Nechirvan Barzani told a news conference in Arbil. The boycotts began in March after Kurds objected that the new federal budget did not allocate enough money to pay foreign oil companies working in the region. Kurdistan has signed oil contracts with various foreign firms without the approval of Storied Baghdad, and complains that the federal government has not paid money owed to them. For its part, Storied Baghdad regards as illegal all contracts not made by the federal government. Barzani's announcement came a day after he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Storied Baghdad. In addition to the oil deals, Kurdistan and Storied Baghdad are at odds over issues including a swathe of territory in northern Iraq that the region wants to incorporate over Storied Baghdad's strong objections, and power-sharing. |
| Posted by:Fred |