Azzaman, November 29, 2014
The deal signed with Kurds on oil exports and budget is only a temporary measure and falls short of addressing outstanding issues, according to Minister of Higher Education Hussein Shahristani.
Shahristani, a former oil minister and deputy prime minister, has been at the forefront of Iraqi opposition to Kurdish attempts to develop and export oil on their own.
In an interview with al-Sharqiya news, Shahristani reiterated his position that the Kurds will have to place all their oil output and exports under central government control.
The central government is the only authority in charge of oil and its revenues, he added.
Baghdad and the Kurdish autonomous region reached an interim agreement nearly three weeks ago over oil exports and budget payments, which observers have hailed as a breakthrough.
But Shahristani said, “This is a short term agreement that appeases both sides but does not address the roots of the problem between them”.
Shahristani belongs to a political faction allied to the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Haider Abadi.
He said before joining the coalition, his party got assurances from Abadi that there would be no change in the oil policy his predecessor Nour al-Maliki had pursued, which vehemently opposed Kurdish plans to develop and export oil on their own.
“Any agreement (by Kurds) with Baghdad must be based on the principle that oil produced anywhere in Iraqi is part of national wealth shared by all Iraqis,” Shahristani said. “Oil produced anywhere in Iraq must be delivered to the central government and then exported.
“Without such an understanding no negotiations or agreement will solve the issue,” Shahristani added.
