ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The five main Kurdish parties have separately rejected former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s call for Kurds to retreat from areas they have liberated from ISIS in the last two years, saying they defended these lands from the radical group and can keep them until the issue is resolved constitutionally.

“It’s unconstitutional if al-Maliki or the State of Law Coalition want to determine the liberated areas by force,” Slim Shushkay, a parliamentarian from the Islamic League (Komal) said on Thursday. “These disputes should be solved through the Iraqi Supreme Court because they are legal issues.”

Al-Maliki, who served as Iraqi Prime Minister from 2007 to 2014 and is now leader of Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party, said at a press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran on Monday: “Any span of Iraqi territory belongs to this country and the Kurdistan Region must retreat to the borders agreed on in the transitional government [of 2003] and all liberated areas must be dealt with constitutionally.”

Kurdish lawmakers cited the Iraqi government’s inability to defend the areas against ISIS, Kurdish forces’ sacrifices to liberate the areas, as well as Iraqi law.

Other Kurdish lawmakers cited Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution that defines disputed areas as territories previously inhabited by Kurds and later “Arabicized” by transferring and settling Arab tribes in the region.

“We aren’t going to give up on areas that have been liberated by blood,” added Shirin Raza Mohammed, a Change Movement (Gorran) parliamentarian. “After the liberation of Mosul, and after ISIS is defeated, we are going to implement Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. Al-Maliki shouldn’t say such things as the prime minister.”

The Constitution requires that Iraqis displaced by “Arabization” be compensated and moved back to their original areas, a process that many Arabs, who have lived in disputed areas for decades, have resisted. Kurds see Article 140 as a way to remedy the injustices of “Arabization” policies and strengthen the Kurdistan Region.

Muthana Amin, head of the committee of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) in Iraqi Parliament said it would be a big mistake for Peshmerga to retreat from Kurdish-liberated areas.

“We need to resolve the problem with the Iraqi government through negotiation,” Amin added. “Therefore, it is unwise for Maliki to use the threatening language.”

Parliamentarian Rebwar Taha for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said that many Arabs and Turkmen in those areas only have faith in the Kurdish forces.

Taha said that there might be an agreement with Baghdad to withdraw from parts of Nineveh “But in terms of the liberated areas such as Makhmour and Kirkuk, the Peshmerga will not retreat.”

Shaxawan Abdulla, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) member of Iraqi parliament said it was irresponsible for al-Maliki, as a former prime minister to express such ideas.

“Maliki left all the areas for ISIS, but we shed blood to liberate them,” Abdullah said.

Rudaw 5/1/2017