Kurdistan must 'commit to central policies'

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has stressed that the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan will remain within the Iraqi territories and must follow the central government in Baghdad. In an interview with Arabstoday, Maliki also called on the government in Kurdistan to commit to the central policies of Baghdad, accusing them of violating the constitution by adopting conflicting policies, particularly in relation to the foreign policy. "Since the establishment of the autonomous authority of Kurdistan in 2003, the leaders of the region have been acting like they are ruling an independent state. But the situation is different now as there is an elected central government which is capable of imposing its authority across the country," said Maliki. He was speaking after the Iraqi government drew criticism from the Kurdish government for outlining Tigris Operations Command, tasked with securing and controlling areas north of Baghdad. They accused the government of working to lure the Kurdistan region into a military conflict between the Peshmerga and the Iraqi army. The Iraqi central government responded by accusing “some Kurdish leaders” of being agents of Israel, which they said was “unconstitutional.” Maliki has claimed that Kurdistan is in violation of the Iraqi constitution because of its failure to commit to the decrees of the central government and allow the central security apparatus to take responsibility of the border crossings and terminals. "They took a further unconstitutional step by arming Kurdish troops which they are not allowed to do because the country should have only one army, which is the central one," he said. The Prime Minister says that the government has received several complaints from people living in Kurdistan that police forces in the region have arrested then without a legal warrant. "We have responsibility towards protecting the rights of those people," he added. He said the Iraqi government will look at a number of options in its attempt to settle the differences with the Kurdish authority, but ruled out military action. "We will not launch a war against an Iraqi group. Everybody will be a loser in such a war," he explained. He called on the Kurdish authorities to stand by Iraq on foreign policy, in light of the recent unrest in the region, particularly in Syria.