Iraqi Government Advisor: Security Agreement with Iran “Not a Spur of the Moment” Decision
(AWP) - Advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister said on Wednesday that the security agreement signed by Baghdad and Iran this week to disarm military groups and close their headquarters in Iraqi Kurdistan was not a “spur of the moment” decision and that it contributes to creating stable relations between the two countries.
Hisham al-Rakabi, media advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, said in an interview with AWP in Baghdad that the Iraqi government “rejects these groups in Iraq because their presence violates the Iraqi constitution.”
On Monday, Iraq and Iran announced signing a security agreement that raised concerns among Iranian opposition groups based in Iraqi Kurdistan for decades.
Despite the joint announcement of the agreement, those Iranian opposition groups say that they have not received any requests to leave Kurdistan, affirming their continued presence in the autonomous northern Iraqi region.
In an interview with AWP, Hussein Yazdanpana, president of the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), called for the return of US forces to the region to put an end to what he described as “Iran’s meddling in Iraqi affairs and in the affairs of the Kurdistan region.”
Yazdanpana stressed that his party’s forces “will not withdraw from their positions.”
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that “if the agreement is not implemented on time, we will fulfill our responsibilities towards the terrorist groups in Iraqi Kurdistan.”
Nonetheless, al-Rakabi told AWP that the “issue is related to how there can be strong relations between neighbouring countries. It conveys important messages, such as transparency, good treatment and concern between both countries, and safeguarding of the common interests of the region’s people as well as neighbouring countries.”
He added, “The Iraqi government, on many occasions, declared its refusal to allow Iraq to become a stage for any hostile military and security actions against any neighbouring country.”
“The Prime Minister has frequently emphasised that Iraq rejects all these practices and takes the necessary measures to prevent armed groups from threatening the security and safety of neighbouring countries. Therefore, this agreement was built on six principles. At the same time, the Iraqi government sends a message to all the neighbouring countries that Iraq’s constitution and political system refuse to compromise the security and safety of neighbouring countries, and therefore an agreement was reached between the two countries. Consequently, the agreement stipulates an end to the armed presence on the borders, as well as the disarmament of those groups and the handover of wanted individuals to both countries.”
For more than four decades, the Iraqi Kurdistan region has been hosting Iranian Kurdish opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, the two wings of the Komala Kurdistan Party in Iran, the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) , the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), the Iranian wing of Turkish opposition Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Communist Iranian Party, the Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle (Khabat) , and the Kurdistan Serbesti Party (PSK).
Fighters of these parties are located inside Iranian Kurdistan, while a number of their headquarters are spread out in the outskirts of the Sulaymaniyah and Erbil governorates and the Koysanjaq and Soran districts in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Al-Rakabi earlier told AWP that the security agreement includes “three articles: preventing the infiltration of militants with the deployment of border guards, handing over wanted persons after issuing arrest warrants in accordance with the law, and disarming and removing the [military] camps.”
Responding to a question about reported US military movements in the area, especially near the Syrian borders, al-Rakabi said that “Iraq is not concerned with movements outside Iraq's borders.”
“All movements that take place outside the borders of Iraq, Iraq will not be involved in. However, we are monitoring and following developments in the region. We hope that the issue will remain free from any security measure or action because Iraq’s stability is linked to the region’s stability, and the stability of the region is part of the stability of Iraq and the rest of the Middle East.”