Iraqi Official Responds to Islamic Republic's Warning on Disarming Kurdish Groups; We Have Reached an Agreement with Iran

An Iraqi official confirmed that the country has signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic for the disarmament and relocation of Iranian Kurdish parties. The Associated Press reported that this unnamed Iraqi official stated that Iraq is working to relocate these groups in Erbil and Sulaymaniyah as soon as possible, with the approval of officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq. Although this source did not mention the names of the groups, it indicated that the Iraqi government intends to carry out this relocation by September 19 (less than 20 days from now). The official noted that the groups will be stationed 'in the Kurdistan region of Iraq' and emphasized that the Kurdish groups will not be armed and will have 'camps for living.' This statement from the Iraqi official follows remarks by Nasser Kanani, the spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, who stated on Monday that the 'disarmament' of Kurdish parties will conclude on September 19, and Iraq will transfer these groups from camps near the border to designated locations. Earlier, Soran Khatri, a reporter for Voice of America from Erbil, Iraq, reported that Khalid Aziz, the spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, stated that this organization feels responsible towards the Kurdistan Region and will try to resolve the issue in a way that does not harm anyone. Some critics of this agreement argue that the closeness between the Islamic Republic and the Prime Minister of Iraq has led to such an agreement. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the current Prime Minister of Iraq, came to power a year ago with the support of a coalition of parties close to the Islamic Republic. The Iranian government's attacks on the positions of Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq have a history. In September 2018, the Aerospace Force of the IRGC attacked the command center of the Democratic Party of Kurdistan in Koy Sanjaq, Iraq, resulting in the deaths of 16 members of the party's leadership, staff, and Peshmerga, with about 40 others injured. At that time, the IRGC claimed that this attack was a response to an armed attack by this group on a border post in the Hamzeh base in the Marivan area. Two weeks after the protests began in September 2022, the IRGC attacked the positions of these parties in Iraq with artillery and missiles, claiming a connection between the protests in Iran and the Iranian Kurdish parties in Iraq. Soran Khatri reports that Kurdish parties reject the Iranian government's accusations, stating that their activities are political and that the Islamic Republic is trying to link them to the demands of the Iranian people. Previously, Arash Saleh, a representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, told the Persian section of Voice of America that 'the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan has never used Iraqi territory for any military activities against the Islamic Republic.' He pointed out that Kurdish parties in Iraq have 'more of a political and non-military presence' and stated that the Iraqi government is responsible for protecting the lives of these political activists and their families in Iraq. In this context, Salah Bayzidi, a representative of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan in the U.S., also stated on Monday to the Persian section of Voice of America that 'in our opinion, these statements and pressures from the Islamic Republic on the regional Kurdish government and the Iraqi government to limit the completely political activities of Iranian Kurdish parties are not new and have existed periodically since 2003.' According to him, 'for years, missile attacks and the assassination of Iranian Kurdish civil and political activists have continued, and now, one year after the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution, the Islamic Republic is afraid of the public uprising in Iran again,' and given the importance of Kurdistan as 'the birthplace and starting point of this revolution,' it is trying to pressure Kurdish parties to 'depict the public uprising of Iranians as dependent on external forces and outside this internal revolution.' David Romano, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at Missouri State University, told the Persian section of Voice of America that considering the halt of independent oil exports from the Kurdistan Region to Turkey and the resulting 'complete' dependence of the Kurdistan Regional Government on Baghdad, the Iraqi government has 'a lot of leverage' over this government and even threatens its autonomy.