President Trump says US not taking sides in Iraqi-Kurdish dispute

Washington, October 17: Amid internal fights between Iraqi government and Kurds over the independence of Kurdistan, the United States President Donald Trump expressed disappointment on conflict and said the US will not take sides in the clash between two parties.

 

Notably, President Donald Trump on Monday said that the United States will not take sides in the clash between independence-seeking Kurds and the Iraqi government but he expressed disappointment the two sides were in conflict. While speaking to the media at the White House, President Trump said, "We don't like the fact that they're clashing. We're not taking sides."

President Trump said, "We've had for many years a very good relationship with the Kurds, as you know, and we've also been on the side of Iraq, even though we should have never been there in the first place." "We should never have been there. But we're not taking sides in that battle," he added.

The statement of President Trump came after the Kurdish referendum in which 8.4 million Kurds lined up at polling stations to vote in a referendum on creating an independent state. The referendum has no legal value, but an alarm for Iraqi government which sees it as a Kurdish attempt to exert greater control over Iraq's oil reserves.

However, U.S. policymakers during a referendum opposed Kurdish independence on the grounds that the breakup of Iraq would spill more Iraqi bloodshed, undermine Turkey’s security, and provoke conflict with Iran. UN also opposed the referendum and has called on Kurdish President Masoud Barzani to instead enter negotiations with Baghdad to reaching a deal.

Interestingly, the United States, which trained both the Kurdish and Iraqi forces, seemed to be left in a bind as the crisis escalated between two partners in the fight against the Islamic State.

Iraq’s Kurdish population has been asking for independence for years despite residing in an autonomous region within the country. But Iraqi Kurdish independence has been historically opposed to Iraq and also its neighbors, Iran, Turkey and Syria, as they fear the contagion for their own Kurdish populations.

Kurds were left stateless when the Ottoman Empire collapsed a century ago, from then Kurds have remained a minority population in the Middle East. Iran, which also has a significant Kurdish population, is also opposed to the creation of an independent Kurdistan.