BAGHDAD: Iraq Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki threatened yesterday to cut Kurdistan’s share of the federal budget if the autonomous region exports oil to Turkey via a new pipeline without central government consent.
The Kurdistan Regional Government said last week that crude had begun to flow to Turkey and exports were expected to start at the end of this month and then rise in February and March.
“This is a constitutional violation which we will never allow, not for the (Kurdistan) region nor for the Turkish government,” Maliki said. He reiterated Baghdad’s insistence that only the central government has the authority to manage Iraq’s energy resources.
Reuters
