Erbil and Baghdad still boiling, despite the talking

Written on May 29, 2012 by Editor in Iraq, KRG, Kurd news

News and Comment by The Kurdistan Tribune:

President Barzani greets Amar Alhakim (Photo - Hawlati)

For several weeks diplomacy involving all the political parties in the Iraqi parliament has intensified in an effort to solve the dispute between Baghdad and Erbil

It seems as if, with every passing day, there are new political arrivals at Erbil airport. Three days ago Iraqi leaders from different political groups, including Ayad Alawi, Ausam Nujifi and Saleh Mutlag, arrived to talk to the president of Kurdistan with the claim that they had some solution.

On Sunday the leader of the Islamic supreme council, Amar Alhakim, arrived in Erbil, again to talk to Masud Barzani .

We, at the foreign editors’ desk at KT, are asking: Can all these visits really be about politics? These people are coming from Baghdad with possibly two other reasons in mind: First, to do some business in Erbil, which is the only safe place to trade in Iraq; and second, they understandably want to escape the mayhem of Baghdad and the south.

Unfortunately there are no easy solutions to the Baghdad-Erbil disputes. Even changing the leader of Iraq would not solve anything. The structure of Iraq’s politics has been based on the wrong concept of religious sectarianism, especially between Shias and Sunnis. Iraq needs structural adjustment to its politics and outlook.