Today's statements by two prominent Kurdish leaders over oil disputes with the central government reminds me with our famous say which says: "Allow me to play or I will mess up everything."
In provocative statements from London, the President of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, and his Oil and Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami, threatened to put the stick in the wheel if they are not allowed to go with their oil ambitions.
Through Reuters, Hawrami warned international oil companies from signing oil deals with the central government to develop oil and gas fields that are located in what is called in the new Iraq "disputed areas" which are claimed by the Kurds as "their" territories and that should be annexed to their region.
"Oil companies must be crazy if they think they can go sign a contract with the ministry of oil and just get on and do the job. They can't, they need our co-operation," Hawrami says as if these territories or the oil fields that Iraqi Ministry has offered for development belong to his family.
Two things can be seen through these statements.
The first is that how mean the Kurds are and how much hatred they have towards other Iraqis to the extend they are threatening to deny them from the money they need so badly by developing these fields.
The second gives us an idea on the pressure they are going under from the oil companies, especially DNO and Addax, to have an export licence as they can't sell their oil in the local market.
kassakhoon@gmail.com
In provocative statements from London, the President of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, and his Oil and Natural Resources Minister, Ashti Hawrami, threatened to put the stick in the wheel if they are not allowed to go with their oil ambitions.
Through Reuters, Hawrami warned international oil companies from signing oil deals with the central government to develop oil and gas fields that are located in what is called in the new Iraq "disputed areas" which are claimed by the Kurds as "their" territories and that should be annexed to their region.
"Oil companies must be crazy if they think they can go sign a contract with the ministry of oil and just get on and do the job. They can't, they need our co-operation," Hawrami says as if these territories or the oil fields that Iraqi Ministry has offered for development belong to his family.
Two things can be seen through these statements.
The first is that how mean the Kurds are and how much hatred they have towards other Iraqis to the extend they are threatening to deny them from the money they need so badly by developing these fields.
The second gives us an idea on the pressure they are going under from the oil companies, especially DNO and Addax, to have an export licence as they can't sell their oil in the local market.
kassakhoon@gmail.com
