Having faced massive military losses since their September 25 vote to declare independence, Iraqi Kurdistan may be losing its substantial historical autonomy as well, according to Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder Abadi.
While praising Iraq’s military victories, Abadi said that from now on, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) could have no say over international borders, control of their own airports, and most significantly, no control over oil exports.
This effectively downgrades the KRG to little more than a provincial government that controls a couple of provinces. Abadi says that he won’t accept just a “symbolic” presence at borders and airports, but rather that Iraq’s central government must have exclusive control.
The KRG had anticipated conflict with Iraq over its independence bid, but appeared to over-estimate the ability of the Peshmerga to defend Kurdish soil from the Iraqi military. Apart from a few towns, Kurdish territory has largely fallen without a fight.
As predicted
You guys are all sheeps….the land belongs to Assyrian (ashur)there is no Gypsy kurds. Read the history morons.
Im not a Kurd moron and if you want to go back 2-4 thousand years then yes it was Assyrian but sorry, those days are long gone. Unless you are dreaming about creating an Assyrian state like Israel for the 3 or so million Assyrians to return too??
All foreign puppets of the cursed zionists are traitors to their respective nations. They must be treated appropriately.
Nations of barbarity with a track record to match, great. Another fascist loon discovered….
Zionist ‘civilization’ is just Naziism refined for a ‘Special Purpose’.
Again, no. Let me guess – you back a homeland for the Palestinians but not one for the far more numerous Kurds living in their own lands. Utter hypocrisy.
The inhabitants of Palestine have lived there just as long as the Kurds have lived in the Kurdistan areas of Iraq, Iran and Syria. In fact, many of the Palestinians are the same as the historic people of the religion of Moses, living in the area, except they converted to Islam. The ones who haven’t been there are the settlers.
How come the word J_u-d–aism warrants special handling and has to be approved by Antiwar.com?
When I did the above post and had …..”converted from the banned J word to Islam” it required special handling. The same with the word describing a practitioner of that religion. What up?
“What up” is that 90% of posts using that word are from the bubbas at Stormfront and we don’t want their crap here. So when that word is used, a moderator looks at it before it gets posted.
That’s bs. Do you also moderate the word Islam or Muslim to make sure the Israel Lobbyist didn’t post it?
Couldn’t agree more. My issue is with the hypocrites who demand a Palestinian state but don’t want the Kurds to have one. They are mainly Arabs, Turks and Iranians which should surprise no one.
That’s like saying give the USA back to the Indians. The neighbors in Canada and Mexico might not like that.
“The world” didn’t know about “the Kurds” before Saddam “gassed” them. Before that the CIA had been using them – and then ‘gave them up’ to help Saddam beat Iran. That was not widely publicized – helping Saddam either.
I’m very much in favor of a Kurdish homeland. I’m sure they’d love a chunk of Montana or Idaho.
Testing: Islam Muslim Just checking to see if these words need “special handling” by the moderator.
The Kurds had a pretty good deal, with autonomy and oil money. Then they got greedy. Now they’ll have a major struggle to get back to what they had.
They may get it, because the US may help. The Kurds are still useful to the US and even more so to Israel. The US got them their old deal, and warned them about getting greedy. So maybe the US will get it back for them, with a warning.
If by ‘greedy’ you mean wanting their traditional land (Arabsised since 1960 by Baghdad) and wanting to free of genocide and humiliation by rampantly chauvinist Arabs. So greedy, eh?
Sorta. The priblem is that ‘traditional land’ belonged to Arabs long before the Kurds were allowed to settle there by the ottomans.
It’s like telling Irishmen that the Scots ‘own’ Ireland beause the English ‘planted’ them there. Or like America, where the same thing happened to the indians.
No. The Kurds have lived there for thousands of years. You’re the first person I’ve heard dispute that. Please come up with established proof or otherwise stop making things up.
Barzani was an egoist and a total fool, talk about hubris….. and now the poor Kurds have much much less than a mere 6 weeks ago
You clearly do not know Middle East, do not judge events by what they appear to be.
At the end of the day, Iraq correctly identified the so called “independence” bid as an Israeli plot and not a genuine movement. The world does not need another Kosovo, much less one that dovetails with the Oded Yinon plan.
I’m thinking – if Kurdish forces were even half of what we ‘cracked them up’ to be, the fat lady hasn’t even warmed up yet. Or someone has been bullschitting, again.
If course it is BS, but if neocons think they alone are so dmartbto sell BS as a fragrant rose, others are just warming up to use their own powers.
And why has it all happened without resistance? Because of the internal problem. Ever since US started propping up “opposition” to Barzani and traditional defence forces, Peshmerga, Kurdish leadership saw the writing on the wall. Support for PKK and its political arm, Gorran, was a clear message that Kurdish independence was conditional on them executing US policies in the region. That clashed with Barzani, who like his father before him saw many promises come from European or American givernments, just to discover the price of such munificence. Barzani did not want to fall into the trap, and always maintained goid relationship with Ankara, having good personal relationship with Erdkgan. And he allowed Turkish bombing of PKK outfits in Iraq. He also had a good relationship with Baghdad, and the representative of Kurdish region in Iraqi government — Talabani, whi recently passed away — was well respected figure among all Iraqis. Barzani and Baghdad cut the deal for pipeline transit, that gave Kurds revenue. But this oragnatic approach to autonomy did not suit the policy makers in US, who wanted a more robust and speedy rearranging of Middle East. So, just like propping up PKK in Syria, under local name YPG, a steady push was made to marginalize Barzani and Peshmerga as “innefective”, and PKK was brought in to challenge Peshmerga military, and develop a political opposition. They were enthusiastically supported by Israel. Advance of ISIS created a situation where Kurds had no choice but to accept US help to fend off attacks. As US utilezed both Peshmerga and PKK, both were firced to accept US military directives. But the real goal of the ISIS fighting has shown itself soon enough. Two areas taken by ISIS, Sinjar and Kirkuk, were never part of Kurdish autonomy, as they are not majority Kurdish. But US using Kurdish fighters liberated them — and allowed ONLY PKK fighters and command to occupy them. The only Peshmerga in Kirkuk came in afterwards to repell attempt by ISIS to gtake Kirkuk back. This preferential treatment of PKK and opposition Gorran, was a clear message to Kurds. Now, PKK was in control of Iraqi towns — signalling intent to expand Kurdish autonomy. The same is happening in Syria, where Kurds are “liberating” areas from ISIS, just to iccupy them, and prevent Syrian Army taking back majority Syrian Arab towns.
For Peshmerga, and for Barzani it meant that in the near future PKK was going to use US help to declare independence to keep Kurkuk, and isolate Iraq from Turkey and Syria — and vuce versa. This is the main reason Barzani announced the referendum, preempting OKJ move. Barzani term expired on Nivember 1, and he was ready to step down. Remember how when the referendum was announced, there was no loud objection to it — except from PKK that was forced to support Barzani. Only days before referendum — we heard ibjections from the region — and from US. US could not support Barzani. And after Iraqi Army moved to take back Sinjar and Kurkuk — without Peshmerga fighters and without US help, PKK was routed fast. Iraq intends to get border controls, and airports, so no shady forces can enter easily. The reaction by US is so classical neocon. Let Kurds hate Iraqi Shia, let us rekindle the good old days of suspicion. Ket us US firmly tell Iraqi Shia to dismantle their units, and Iranians to go home! For weary Kurds this is water under the bridge. They saw British, Israeli and US promise much, make enemies in the region, and then deliver inky demands — no freedom. Weariness is the stare of mind.
But the dangers are far from over. Neocons are always thinking how to provoke incidents, false flags, and then crank up the media machine to tell everyone what to think, letting them spread their wings in mire futile attemots to reirder the globe according to their design. And this is their MO. When losing, open another front to distract everyone. The oroblem is the cost — an issue that never seem to bother the armchair worriors.
While all the above is a matter of known record, there us something that may be guessed — no proof here. It may be that Baghdad and Peshmerga have some sort of a deal. Otherwise — even with the loathing for PKK treachery, and US duplicity, it is hard to comprehend this event. Unless something changes to reveal more.