Trend Arabic News Service commentator Aygul Taghiyeva
One cannot call Iraq's recent internal politics stable. It has recently experienced the most turbulent period.
The inter-faith and ethnic contradictions in this country suppressed by Saddam Hussein's regime aggravated even more after its fall. The culmination was the accusation of the vice president of the country Sunni Tariq Al-Hashimi by Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that he is guilty of organising terrorist attacks against the Shiite leaders.
Al-Hashimi was initially hiding in the territory of Kurdish autonomy. Afterwards, he moved to neighbouring Turkey. Ankara refused to extradite him to the Iraqi authorities. Thus, the split between the Sunni and Shiite blocs acquired a bright political feature.
The next was the conflict between the Kurdish autonomy and Baghdad. Relations between the autonomy and the central government worsened after the U.S. firm Exxon Mobil got permission from the authorities of the autonomy to explore and develop oil fields.
In response, the central government has urged Exxon Mobil to cancel the agreement with the autonomy otherwise Baghdad threatens to terminate all agreements with this company.
Afterwards, head of the Kurdish autonomy Massoud Barzani travelled to the U.S in early April. He met with President Obama and said that it is necessary to stop the "dictatorial activity" of the head of the Iraqi central government Al-Maliki. Besides the politics, the parties also discussed energy cooperation, as after that meeting Exxon Mobil announced its firm intention to continue working in the Kurdish autonomy.
The fourth round of issuing the licenses to foreign companies for exploration and development of oil and gas fields recently held in the country confirms the fact that the economic policy of the current Iraqi government fails.
Only three out of 12 perspective blocks put up for auction attracted the attention of foreign investors, but a lower price was offered for them. The Iraqi oil ministry hoped for another price and could not deny the fact that the tender was unsuccessful.
Expanding cooperation with Exxon Mobil, Kurdish autonomy negotiates with Turkey about the construction of the oil pipeline to transit its oil to Europe via Turkey.
Turkish deputy minister of energy Murat Mercan told Trend that this project is designed for cooperation in the future, after stabilising the political situation in Iraq.
Nouri al-Maliki's government has difficulties in foreign policy amid deteriorating relations with the Kurdish administration. For example, Iraq's neighbour and close partner Turkey referred to al-Maliki's policy as "dictatorial" and aimed at inciting inter-religious conflict in the country.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly stated that the Shiite government violates the rights of Sunnis in Iraq.
It seems that al-Maliki's governing may end in the near term prospect. Iraqi MPs launched an initiative to collect signatures to declare no confidence in Prime Minister. About 178 out of 325 MPs signed the document.
However the saddest thing for al-Maliki is that even his former supporters began to turn away from him. For example, one of the leaders of the Shiites heading an influential political and religious movement Sadr Muqtada Al-Sadr has even urged the prime minister to resign.
This means that the Iraqi Shiite community partially refuses to support the ideology and policy of prime minister, instead looking for a person to replace him.
One can assume that al-Maliki's government is doomed to failure and rests on a thin thread called Iran and without this closest ally and Muqtada Al-Sadr's support, it is unknown how long such a situation can remain.