The Kurds' Vision of Iraq

Regarding the Sept. 13 front-page story "Strip of Iraq 'on the Verge of Exploding' ":

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and its pesh merga forces are not seeking control of the city of Khanaqin. More than 90 percent of the residents of Khanaqin are Kurdish, and the city was peaceful until Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki sent Iraqi military forces there last month in an unwelcome and unnecessary provocation that sparked demonstrations by tens of thousands of residents.

This aggressive act caught the Kurdistan regional leadership by surprise, given that it occurred around the time that the KRG and other Iraqi parties had nearly reached agreement on a provincial election law, a key Iraqi benchmark. Since then, the election law has stalled, and the KRG has negotiated with Baghdad for the redeployment of some Kurdish pesh merga forces, as noted in the article.

The KRG is fully committed to a peaceful, democratic and federal Iraq, but we reject such intimidation from the prime minister.

Furthermore, we are becoming alarmed at the increasingly threatening nationalist rhetoric that some Iraqi Arab parties have directed at the Kurds, which brings back memories of the approach of previous Iraqi governments to the Kurds.

All concerned parties, including U.S. and U.N. negotiators, should respect the Iraqi constitutional process. There has been political progress in Iraq, but it is fragile. The Kurds of Iraq have made vital contributions to Iraq's progress and will continue to do so. Undermining the constitution on the status of Kirkuk, one of the most contentious issues in Iraq, will only weaken Iraq's delicate political compact, which Americans and Kurds have worked hard to achieve.

FALAH MUSTAFA BAKIR

Minister, Department of Foreign Relations

Kurdistan Regional Government

Irbil, Iraq