The autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq will henceforth be allowed to attend high-level meetings between the European Union and Baghdad, according to an EU decision.
“Now that we are included, our people can express their wishes, make their own demands, objections and have influence,” said Zana Kurda, an advisor to the KRG’s European Union mission.
A New Step for Kurdish Democracy
Until now, the KRG had not been included in the talks between Iraq and the EU, where issues such as trade, energy, human rights and other topics were discussed.
Since 2009, the KRG mission had expressed its will to be part of the process, but Kurda told Rudaw that the EU had always maintained that was “an Iraqi matter.” The new decision allows KRG representatives to sit at the table alongside Iraqi authorities.
Dellawar Ajgeiy, the KRG’s representative in Brussels, expressed delight at the decision. “This is a political and diplomatic victory,” he told Rudaw. “It is a positive improvement of the relationship between the EU and the KRG, but also between the KRG and Baghdad. Now we can better defend the Kurds’ interests.”
[Read more at Rudaw]
