Iraq’s Kurdistan may postpone referendum in return for concessions: Official

‘Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region may consider the possibility of postponing a planned referendum on independence in return for financial and political concessions from the central government in Baghdad.
Mala Bakhtiar, a senior Kurdish official, said a Kurdish delegation was visiting Baghdad to sound out Iraqi leaders on the proposal.
“What thing would Baghdad be prepared to offer to the (Kurdish) region” in return, asked Bakhtiar, who is the executive secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) Politburo.
On the economic side, the central government in Baghdad should be ready to help the Kurds overcome a financial crisis and settle debts owed by their government, Bakhtiar said in the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya.
He estimated the debt at 10 to 12 billion dollars, nearly equal to the annual budget of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which owes to public contractors and civil servants and peshmerga fighters, whose salaries have not been paid in full for several months.’
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