Iraqi Kurds unhappy partners in Abadi's government
The Kurdish position in internal Iraqi politics has been weakened by the fight with the Islamic State, resulting in a new Iraqi government that largely ignores their demands.
ERBIL, Iraq — Iraqi Kurds appear to have decided to participate in Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government as a result of strong international pressure and amid the serious challenges they face from the Islamic State (IS).
Nearly a month of negotiations between Kurdish delegations and Abadi produced no concrete agreement between the two sides. After a backlash in the ranks of the Shiite-dominated Iraqi National Alliance against former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Abadi managed to secure the support of the majority of the parliament members in the alliance on Aug. 11 and was assigned on the same day by President Fouad Massoum, a Kurd, to form a cabinet within a month.
Given the tumultuous state of affairs in the country, the Kurds expected the new Shiite prime minister to adopt a more lenient attitude toward them after eight years of often tense relations with former Prime Minister Maliki. But that did not happen. Abadi sent signals that he did not care much about Kurdish participation, as he had secured the support of Sunni Arab politicians, who were voted into the Iraqi parliament in April and before IS took over most of the Sunni parts of the country.
“The Kurdish decision to participate in the Iraqi government was a half-hearted one,” said Renas Jano, an Iraqi lawmaker from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which has the largest Kurdish bloc in the Iraqi parliament. He told Al-Monitor, “We were hesitant right through the last moment.”
