Iraqi Kurds might put off independence vote

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq: Iraq’s Kurds may consider the possibility of postponing a planned Sept 25 referendum on independence in return for financial and political concessions from the central government in Baghdad, a senior Kurdish official said.

A Kurdish delegation is visiting Baghdad to sound out proposals from Iraqi leaders that might convince the Kurds to postpone the vote, according to Mala Bakhtiar, executive secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Politburo.

The United States and other Western nations fear the vote could ignite a fresh conflict with Baghdad and possibly neighbouring countries, diverting attention from the ongoing war against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq and Syria.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson formally asked Massoud Barzani, president of the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), 10 days ago to postpone the referendum. “What thing would Baghdad be prepared to offer to the Kurdish region” in return for postponing the referendum, Bakhtiar, speaking about the talks with the Muslim-led Baghdad ruling coalition, said in an interview.

On the economic side, Baghdad should be ready to help the Kurds overcome a financial crisis and settle debts owed by their government, he told Reuters in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya. He estimated the debt at $10 to $12 billion, about equal to the KRG’s annual budget, owed to public works contractors and civil servants and Kurdish peshmerga fighters whose salaries have not been paid in full for several months. —Reuters