Kurds question Baghdad's rhetoric

ERBIL, Iraq, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said he doubts the sincerity of Baghdad regarding a national partnership but supports broader security goals nonetheless.

Barzani said in an interview with London's Ashraq al-Awsat that Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government are partners in principle, but in practice, the situation is quite different.

"We are partners but we do not have a role in the government. We are not partners in security, economic and military issues and we do not know anything about these institutions," he said.

He slammed what he considered Baghdad's monopoly of decision-making processes in greater Iraq, saying unilateral agendas do not serve development in the country. He also blamed the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for sidelining President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, in many arenas.

On claims that the Kurdish Peshmerga forces may enter a violent confrontation with Iraqi military forces in the town of Khanaqin in the north of Diyala province, Barzani expressed his complete support for Iraqi national forces but blamed a small number of troops for stoking sectarian conflict.

"I reiterate that we are not opposed to the deployment of the Iraqi army," he said. "However, the military forces that replaced the Kurdish forces arrived to raise provocative slogans and acted exactly like the former army that had committed crimes against the Kurdish people in the past," he added.