Kurdistan Region – In a meeting with a delegation of U.S. senators who visited Erbil last week, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said that adherence to the constitution is “the only way to resolve Iraq’s political disputes.”

Republication senator John McCain, senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and senator Lindsey Graham arrived in Erbil on Wednesday to meet with Kurdistan Region’s top officials.

“The Kurdish government has always acted based on its firm belief in Iraq’s constitution,” PM Barzani told the delegation.

In the past several months Baghdad and Erbil have been grappling with major disputes over budget issues, the autonomous region’s oil and gas sector and Prime Minister Nuri Maliki’s policies, which some Kurdish leaders call dictatorial.

In a situation as Iraq’s, said Barzani, it is normal to see problems and disputes emerge, “but the important thing is to have the will to resolve the issues through dialogue and based on the constitution so that stability returns to Iraq,”

Earlier this month, Falah Mustafa, Kurdistan Region’s Foreign Relations Minister told krg.org that Erbil has always showed the will to solve its disputes with Baghdad.

“Several times, we in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have shown our willingness and flexibility to reach compromises in order to solve the issues with Baghdad and to help ensure a secure, stable and prosperous Iraq,” Minister Mustafa told krg.org. “But leaders in Baghdad continuously avoid trying to find solutions, choosing instead to distort the nature of the problems and portray them in a different light.”

One year after the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, the U.S. is closely watching Iraq’s political situation and U.S. President Barak Obama has urged Iraqi leaders to solve their disagreement through dialogue.

During their visit, the U.S. senators discussed the situation in neighboring Syria with Kurdish leaders.

PM Barzani told the delegation that the KRG monitors the developments in Syria and reiterated that the Syrian people should be able to “decide their own future.”

“Any change in Syria must be democratic,” PM Barzani said. “One in which in all Syrians, particularly the Kurdish people, will enjoy their rights,”

On their part, the visiting senators expressed their support for stronger relations with the Kurdistan Region and they said the U.S. would work to maintain stability in Iraq.

Prior to visiting Erbil, the US delegation visited Baghdad where they met with Iraqi officials and voiced concerns over Iran’s use of Iraqi airspace in the recent weeks.

“We did raise concerns with the prime minister and the foreign minister (about overflights),” Lieberman told the media in Baghdad, according to an AFP report. “The prime minister has said that he had testimony, or promises from the Iranians that they were just flying humanitarian assistance, but we believe otherwise.”

“I think we should present him (Maliki) with... as much evidence as we can, to show why we believe those Iranian cargo and commercial planes... are carrying items... that enable Assad to kill his own people.” Lieberman added.










RUDAW