Barzani suggests deadlock can end with division of posts in Iraqi Kurdistan

09/25/2016
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Kurdistan Democratic Party KDP leader Masoud Barzani has suggested that a political deadlock in Iraqi Kurdistan can be ended if the political parties agree to a division of senior positions in parliament and the prime minister’s office, his bureau chief said.

Kurdistan’s parliament has been suspended since October last year after Barzani’s KDP security forces prevented the Parliament’s Speaker Yusuf Muhammed Sadiq from Gorran Movement from entering the Kurdish capital city of Erbil.

“First Barzani has suggested to activate the Kurdistan parliament and suggested that Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) take the presidency of parliament and Gorran take the position of second deputy prime minister,” Fuad Hussein, Barzani’s chief of staff, said in an interview with the Voice of America’s Kurdish service.

“The second suggestion is for other parties in the parliament, exacluding the KDP, PUK and Gorran, to elect three persons for the parliament presidency until the next election.” Hussein said.

The crisis erupted after Massoud Barzani, whose term as Kurdistan President ended on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office.

Hussein said that Barzani has announced he is ready to step down if other parties have candidates for the position. Otherwise, they should agree on a solution until the next election in 2017.
“Barzani himself had revealed that he is ready to step down if someone is ready to take it (the presidency),” Hussein said.

He added that the political stalemate has become more complicated since the recent rifts inside the PUK.

“Now the problem became bigger, since the PUK officially became two factions; this has created a new problem in Kurdish politics,” Hussein said.

He added that he did not think a summit meeting among all parties would solve the political deadlock, unless they are prepared and ready to reach an agreement

“I do not think a summit meeting will solve the crisis, if there is no good preparation to reach a solution and agreement,” he said.

Massoud Barzani has led Kurdistan region as president for 10 years, from 2005 for two executive terms and his last term was extended in 2013 by ruling KDP and PUK for two more years on the condition that he can no longer run as president. According to the law in Kurdistan, Barzani cannot run for presidency anymore.

The main Kurdish parties failed to reach an agreement on the Kurdistan presidency as the KDP insists that its leader Massoud Barzani should remain president of the region.

Last October Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani has removed four members of his cabinet from the Gorran Movement and were replaced with KDP politicians.

In March 2016 Massoud Barzani said I will not leave power until Kurdistan get statehood.
Barzani has been accused by critics of amassing huge wealth for his family instead of serving the population. Barzani’s son is the Kurdistan region’s intelligence chief and his nephew Nechirvan Barzani is the prime minister.

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