PUK-KDP in meeting to assess Tehran’s stance to Kurdish referendum


The two main ruling parties of the Kurdistan Region are in a meeting in Erbil mainly to discuss Tehran’s opposition to the planned Kurdish referendum less than three months from now, the reactivation of the suspended parliament and preparations for the vote.

A senior Kurdish official described the meeting between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) as important whose mission is to “assess” the official response from Iran with regard to the referendum set for September 25.

Hemin Hawrami, an assistant to the Kurdish president Masoud Barzani has also said that the meeting will discuss the fate of the suspended parliament, especially after the KDP offered to reactivate the institution without any preconditions.

Hawrami also said that the meeting would reconfirm holding the referendum “on time.”

The PUK made a visit to Iran, at the request of the Islamic republic, on Monday with the focus on the referendum, strongly opposed by Kurdistan’s eastern neighbour.

Iran had warned the visiting delegation that Erbil should not expect “good things” coming from Tehran if the Kurdish Region remained adamant to hold the referendum.

The PUK delegation revealed that they had told the Iranians that they remain committed to the Kurdish right to self-determination, one of the core slogans of the party since its foundation.

The KDP had expressed their concerns regarding the PUK visit to Iran, but noted that the PUK remains committed to the referendum.

KDP senior official and a member of the newly-founded High Referendum Council, Hoshyar Zebari, told Rudaw Saturday that except for Iran, no other country has directly opposed the Kurdish bid for statehood.

“We have not seen any country, except for Iran, to directly and with determination oppose the principle of referendum,” Zebari said, adding that the right to self-determination is enshrined in the international principles and law, and therefore must be respected.

Zebari said other countries have expressed their opposition to the timing, or the mechanism of the referendum, but none has opposed the process.

He said that the September 25 is set on stone.

“We are determined to conduct the referendum on September 25,” Zebari said, maintaining that there will be no postponement.

The PUK and the KDP, who share a strategic alliance for about a decade and have practically ruled the Kurdistan region since its foundation after the first Gulf War of 1991, along with Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and a number of smaller parties decided in June to hold the referendum on September 25.

The PUK has said that they will visit the Kurdish parties, mainly the KDP and Gorran, Kurdistan’s second-biggest party, to discuss their visit to Iran.

The PUK and Gorran also signed an alliance agreement last year in May, but most of the terms are yet to be implemented.

Gorran and the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), two parties who are officially members of the coalition Government of the Kurdistan Region have refused so far to attend any meeting related to the referendum. They say that the Kurdish parliament should first be reopened first so that it can pass a law in order to officially call for the referendum.

The KDP last week dropped its precondition it had set for the parliament reactivation, saying that they are open to welcome back the parliament speaker Yousif Mohammed, a Gorran member, to return to his office in Erbil.

Gorran is busy meanwhile with its internal elections following the death of its leader and founder Nawshirwan Mustafa who died this May after a long battle with Cancer.

The party has already said that they are going to officially respond to the KDP’s offer after it elects a new leader on Tuesday.

The KDP has closed the the Kurdish parliament since October 2015 as tensions went high following deadly tensions between the two sides which resulted in several casualties caused by violent riots.

The joint leadership of the PUK and Gorran are also to meet today in Sulaimani.

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