BAGHDAD, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday warned the Kurdish regional government of further delaying redeployment of federal forces in the border crossings.
"I call on the region (Kurdistan) to commit to withdraw to the 2003 (regional line) border and hand over control of the borders (with Turkey and Iran) to the federal government. We will not wait forever. We will take measures to take over the border crossings," Abadi said in a televised press conference after his weekly cabinet meeting.
Abadi asserted that the federal government is acting in accordance with the constitution, which stated that the federal government must preserve Iraq's unity and extends the federal authorities to all Iraqi territories.
"Taking control of borders and the crossing points is duty of the federal authority, and this is a constitutional issue," Abadi said.
On Nov. 1, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) accused the Kurds of reneging on draft of agreement with federal military to redeploy federal forces in disputed areas and border crossing points.
The JOC also accused the Kurds of moving their forces during the negotiated period and building new defensive lines to hamper the redeployment of the federal forces.
"It is clear that this is playing with time by them (Kurds), and what they did after all those negotiations and agreements at the last minute is a return to start point, and contrary to all of what they agreed upon," the JOC statement said.
The JOC accusation came as the Iraqi forces were pushing to redeploy in all the areas that the Kurdish region had extended after 2003.
On Oct. 31, a JOC statement said that a team headed by the Iraqi Army's Chief of Staff, Othman al-Ghanmi, conducted a visit to the crossings of Faysh-Khabur and Ibrahim al-Khalil to determine the security requirements for redeployment of federal forces in the two crossings.
The Kurdish and federal joint team was formed to avoid military confrontations between the two sides after last week's clashes that occurred as the government troops advanced to seize more disputed areas.
Tensions have been running high between Baghdad and the region of Kurdistan after the Kurds held a controversial referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas.
