1. Senior Kurdistan Region official sees opportunity for ‘citizen-based’ reform in Iraq

Falah Mustafa Bakir, senior foreign policy adviser to Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, said that Iraqi Kurdistan “supports the legitimate demands of the protesters” and the Iraqi government’s reform plan “as long as it’s serious.”

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor in Doha, Bakir, who previously served as foreign minister to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), spoke about how the Kurds’ own experiences of frustration and disappointment with the Iraqi government since 2003 allow them to sympathize with the demonstrators’ demands to devolve and share power more equitably. Here are some highlights of our conversation:

• On the demonstrations: “We are against the use of violence [against the demonstrators] … We need to make sure that there is a trust between the public and the security forces because the security forces are there for the sake of the people. We can't have a republic of fear again [referring to Saddam Hussein’s regime] … It's already been overthrown.”
• On reform: “There is an opportunity for people in power today, first, to be very clear in fighting corruption, in ensuring transparency, and delivering services. And that whole program should be focused and centered on citizens, a citizens-focused, a citizens-based program so that people could see the values.”
• On the Iraqi government: “The problems we see today are the accumulation of problems of the last 15 to 16 years — non-implementation of the constitution, not addressing the demands of the Kurdistan Region, not addressing the demands of the Sunnis, not addressing the demands of the Shia and all the other groups. We can't put all the blame on the prime minister. The prime minister was a compromise candidate who all the groups supported. He doesn't have a power base. We should have been his support. All these groups who are in the government should have supported him, but, unfortunately, the moment the government was formed, each group acted as if they are not part of the government.”
• On the opposition parties: While the Iraqi Kurds had the experience of working together since 1991, following the US war with Iraq, many Iraqi opposition parties “could not adapt to change when they became in power. They were in power but acting, behaving and planning like they were in the opposition.”
• On the Iraqi Kurdistan referendum (2017): It “was exactly the same expression of the people in Baghdad and the south today. It was a feeling of frustration, disappointment and failure that we have waited for 12, 13, 14 years.”
• On the electoral law: “Changing it to make it more open, make it more democratic, more representative, no problem with that. That has to be done through the right mechanisms, not in a rush and not through the wrong approach, because we can't afford creating another mistake in solving a problem … and creating another problem.”
• On the provincial committees: “If all groups and all communities agree, then they can work on that as well. We know that some of the salaries, expenses and allocations are very high. Since this will help ease the tension and rebuild trust, it can be addressed and tackled in the right way.”
• On Iran: “Iraq cannot change its neighborhood … We want Iraq to find areas of cooperation as a sovereign independent state, but unless Iraq is strong in its institutions and unless Iraq is strong politically, economically, militarily, socially, it cannot stand interference [such as from Iran].”

2. UAE’s Gargash calls for efforts to head off conflict with Iran

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash called for “dynamic diplomacy” to head off a conflict with Iran in a speech this week at the Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate, sponsored by the Emirates Policy Center. Highlights of the speech: