Kurdistan presidency in ‘constant’ contact with Turkey over oil exports

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region presidency is in constant contact with Turkey to resume oil exports, the chief of staff of the presidency told Rudaw on Friday. 

“There are constant contacts [with Turkey],” chief of staff Fawzi Hariri told Rudaw’s Bakhtiyar Qadir in Erbil about efforts to resume oil exports

Turkey stopped the flow of Kurdish oil through the Iraq-Turkey pipeline in March after a Paris arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara for allowing the independent export of Kurdistan Region’s oil, in breach of a 1973 agreement. The halt has cost the Kurdistan Region billions of dollars.

On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country does not have any issue with the resumption of the Region’s oil exports and that the delay is caused by tensions between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He said that Ankara is waiting for Baghdad and Erbil to resolve their internal matters, and then Turkey will act. 

Erbil and Baghdad reached an agreement in early April to resume the exports but Turkey’s presidential elections in May delayed the process. Iraqi and Kurdish officials have cited Turkish officials saying that damage caused to the pipeline during February’s devastating earthquakes has also caused a delay.


Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections 


Hariri also commented on Kurdistan Region’s delayed parliamentary elections.

The presidency this week asked Iraq’s electoral commission to supervise the Region’s parliamentary elections and hold the vote this year, suggesting it could be scheduled in November or simultaneously with Iraqi provincial elections a month later. 

Hariri said that they have been holding meetings and discussions with the electoral body and UN representatives about when the vote can be held.

“We are expecting to receive a reply next week… to know whether they can fulfill our request,” Hariri said. 

He noted that they are under time pressure since the electoral commission is coming to the end of its term. “It is worth noting that on January 7, 2024, the commission’s term ends,” Hariri said. After that date the Iraqi parliament will need to elect a new commission and this will add further complications. 

Iraq’s electoral commission was asked to oversee the Kurdistan region’s parliamentary elections after a federal court ruled in May that the Region’s parliament’s decision to extend its term by another year and delay elections was unconstitutional. Because of that ruling, all decisions and laws issued by the Kurdish parliament after its legal deadline had passed were voided, including a controversial vote to reactivate the regional electoral body. 

The delay in the parliament was caused by disagreement between the political parties in the Region over the electoral law, seats reserved for minorities, and the reactivation of the Kurdistan Region’s Independent High Electoral Commission. 

In March, prior to the federal court ruling, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani set November 18, 2023, for parliamentary elections, a year after they were due to be held. 

Iraq’s electoral commission is currently tasked with preparing for the provincial elections to be held on December 18, and the head of the commission has said that it would not be able to hold the Kurdish parliamentary elections at the same time.