The Geopoliticalmonitor's Daniel Moore explores how the leader of Iraqi Kurdistan is making his mark on Iraqi politics. 
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Massoud Barzani: A Regional Powerbroker Rises in Iraqi Kurdistan
By: Daniel Moore
May 13th, 2013
With the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War and a UN report warning that April was the highest month of Iraqi casualties since 2008, one important storyline might have been missed: Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani has been quietly building his power base within the region and has risen to become one of the most influential players in Iraqi politics.

Barzani has been leveraging his influence to put Iraqi Kurdistan onto the path to full independence. He successfully brokered the Erbil Agreement in 2010, leading to the formation of the Iraqi national government and an end to the post-election political gridlock. He also negotiated the terms of response for the long-running Sunni protests against al-Maliki. Since then, he has repeatedly been sought out by Iraqi opposition leaders as a mediating figure—a position another prominent Kurd (head of the Kurdish opposition party PUK), Iraqi President Talabani, filled before health problems sidelined him in 2010.

Building upon his relationships within the Iraqi political system, Barzani has garnered support to further his ambitions for Iraqi Kurdistan, ambition which the dysfunction of the Iraqi government sometimes furthers and at other times thwarts. Deep sectarian divisions between Shiites and Sunnis have provided an opportunity for Barzani to negotiate and establish working relationships with both Sunni and Shiite opposition parties. But the relationship between al-Maliki and Barzani has taken a turn for the worse because of disputes over oil contracts, Kurdistan’s nascent pipeline agreements with Turkey, and the lack of budget approval for the Kurdistan Peshmerga (Kurdistan’s military). Barzani has also directly challenged the Iraqi government by allowing for deposed former Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi, accused by al-Maliki of organizing death squads targeting government officials, to stay in Kurdistan before he finalized his living arrangements in Turkey.

Kurdistan and Iraq have an ongoing dispute over the oil rights in the region. Kurdistan wants full energy independence--control of the downstream and upstream oil processes within its territory and full access to revenues. In order to achieve this goal, it has signed over 50 oil agreements with major oil companies. However, the Iraqi Parliament does not recognize those agreements and remains in full control of the revenues earned from oil in Iraqi Kurdistan. In order to bypass Baghdad’s long arm, Barzani made a deal with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogen to transport 15,000 barrels of oil a day to Turkey. The Kurds are also demanding the ratification of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which calls for a referendum in Kirkuk, a move that the Maliki government has consistently opposed.

For the full article text, please visit: http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/massoud-barzani-a-regional-powerbroker-rises-in-iraqi-kurdistan-4811/

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