Iraq’s Kurds may consider the possibility of postponing a planned Sept. 25 referendum on independence in return for financial and political concessions from the central government in Baghdad, a senior Kurdish official said. “What thing would Baghdad be prepared to offer to the (Kurdish) region” in return for postponing the referendum, Bakhtiar, speaking about the talks with the Shia Muslim-led Baghdad ruling coalition, said in an interview. Baghdad stopped payments from the Iraqi federal budget to the KRG in 2014 after the Kurds began exporting oil independently from Baghdad, via a pipeline to Turkey. The Kurdish peshmerga in 2014 prevented Islamic State from capturing Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, after the Iraqi army fled in the face of the militants. Hardline Iran-backed Iraqi Shi’ite militias have threatened to expel the Kurds from this region and three other disputed areas – Sinjar, Makhmour and Khanaqin.

Source: Egypt Independent August 20, 2017 14:37 UTC