Nechirvan Barzani sat down with TIME on December 13 to talk about the Turks, his stormy relationship with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the potential for an independent Kurdish state.

Five years ago Kurds and foreigners alike laughed in Barzani’s face when he told them that not only did he want Iraqi Kurdistan to export its own oil, but that he wanted to export it to Turkey, which has had an intractable problem with its own large Kurdish minority. Today however, Turkey-Kurdistan relations are in continual progress.

In an nterviewe with Nechirvan Barzani, published yesterday in Time magazine, Jay Newton-Small asked if “Is it ironic that you’re pinning your hopes on Turkey, given how badly they have treated the Kurds in the past?”

In his response, Nechirvan Barzani said “Things have changed in Turkey. It’s very simple. Turkey needs something that it doesn’t have. We need certain things that we don’t have. This has been the proper understanding on both sides. And it doesn’t have anything to do with politics. It’s an economic matter.”

Asked about Baghdad-Erbil current tension, Barzani said “The Kurdish concern about Maliki is not only the Kurdish concern. It you go talk to any Shi’a, Turkman, and Sunni, they have exactly the same concern about the Prime Minister. This is the reality. Everybody is unhappy with the performance of the prime minister.”

Barzani believes that there is a moral responsibility on the United States as well to engage and act as a mediator.

He reemphasized on dialogue and cooperation as a favored way Kurds want to resolve their problems with Maliki.

Regarding Kurdish issue and possibility of having an independent Kurdistan, Prime Minister told Time magazine “we have a very good opportunity for an independent Kurdistan, but we have a lot of challenges as well.” He further explained “first of all we have to convince at least one country around us. Without convincing them, we cannot do this. Being land locked we have to have a partner, a regional power to be convinced and internationally, a big power to be convinced to support that”.

“What we want right now is to have an economic independence within Iraq” he added.