BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi government accused Turkey Saturday of helping Kurds smuggle Iraqi oil, warning that such a behavior could jeopardize Iraqi-Turkish relations.
"Turkey's imports of Iraqi crude from the Iraq's Kurdistan Province (through deals with Kurdish leaders not the central government) will harm bilateral relations particularly the economic ones," Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussein Al-Shahristani said in a press statement.
Shahristani stressed that "this is an illegal and unconstitutional business", adding that the Oil Ministry solely reserves the right to export crude oil, gas or oil products to other countries.
In a statement to KUNA, Spokesman for Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Faisal Abdullah unveiled that Iraq incurs losses estimated at over USD 8.5 billion due to the illegal exportation of oil to Turkey.
He warned that the central government could cut these losses for Kurdistan appropriations in the state budget if the exports did not stop.
Abdullah said that Turkey knows that its imports from Kurdistan are illegal, revealing that the Iraqi government is studying several measures to respond to the Turkish move.
Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan, are at loggerheads over who should control oil and gas produced in the region.
The central government argues that it should control all resources in the country, while the Kurds say that they are eligible to run their own resources.
www.kuna.net.kw
Source: http://www.aina.org/news/20120714201025.htm
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