Kurdistan: Baghdad can’t prosecute the region internationally
KRG stressed that it will continue to extract and export oil to resolve the financial crisis that has plagued the region due to the economic blockade imposed by Baghdad .
Kurdistan began last month selling the first shipment of oil that has been pumped through a new pipeline runs from the fields in the region to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.
The move has angered the federal government , which had filed a lawsuit in the international arbitration in Paris against Turkey and its affiliated oil transportation company.
Baghdad has also threatened to sue any oil buyer from the region after a tanker loaded with Kurdish oil sailed towards America , but changed its way to the Strait of Gibraltar later.
Reports said that the tanker has stopped in the ports of Morocco as KRG confirmed that the shipment arrived without an exact determined destination.
The spokesman of KRG, Safeen Dazia said in an interview reported for " Shafaq News " that " Baghdad can’t sue the region legally in the international courts , because the courts would respond to the request of the Iraqi government that Kurdistan region is a part of Iraq and this is an internal affair that must be solved by the Iraqi constitution . "
Dazia added that " the Iraqi constitution allows Kurdistan Region to use its oil " , stressing that “KRG will continue to extract , export and sell oil in order to resolve the financial crisis that has plagued the region because of the budget and cut the salaries of its employees by the federal government”.
Kurdistan says that it began exporting oil after Baghdad imposed an economic blockade by cutting off its share of the country’s financial budget and the salaries of the staff of the region.
Dazia described Baghdad’s procedures as " illegal and inhuman ," pointing out that "KRG was obliged to take all measures and ways to solve this problem."
The two sides did not reach an agreement on the export of oil , after months of negotiations and exchange of visits between delegations of the two parties.
The official spokesman of KRG hoped to reach a solution to the current crisis with Baghdad , noting that "the past six months had witnessed three visits of KRG delegation to Baghdad , as Prime Minister of KRG , Nechirvan Barzani went to Baghdad and started direct negotiations with the federal government but it appears that Baghdad wanted from the beginning not to reach any result . "
Dazia added that "the Iraqi government wanted to control the situation , receive the extracted oil from Kurdistan region and then do not send the region’s budget ." He pointed out that the problems between the region and Baghdad will be solvable by reference to the law , the Constitution , the compatibility and the foundations of a true partnership .
