Main parties in Kurdish region of Iraq signal thaw in relations
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the main political parties in the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, ended its boycott of the region’s cabinet meetings yesterday in a sign of reconciliation with its rival Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The boycott by PUK senior leader Qubad Talabani began late last year, driven by tensions between the PUK and KDP over power-sharing, parliamentary election law and oil and gas revenue.
Mr Talabani, Kurdistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, and his six ministers attended the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday.
It comes a week after he met Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, when the pair agreed to co-operate.
The two sides have been under local and international pressure to reconcile ahead of the region’s parliamentary elections in November.
The parties have jockeyed for power in the Kurdish region for decades.
In the mid-1990s, when Saddam Hussein lost power in northern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, the PUK and KDP ignited a Kurdish civil war. In 1998, the two sides stopped fighting after signing a US-brokered deal.
The 2003 US-led invasion paved the way for the recognition of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in the 2005 constitution, with the two parties sharing power.
Meanwhile, Iran has summoned Iraq’s ambassador in protest over the presence of Iranian opposition groups at an official ceremony in Kurdistan, AFP said, citing Iranian media outlets.
Isna news agency, quoting the Foreign Ministry, said Tehran had expressed its “strong objection” to the invitation of members of “separatist groups” at Saturday’s ceremony, “contrary to the recent security agreement” between Iran and Iraq.
The headquarters of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran in Iraq’s Kurdistan region have recently been the target of Tehran’s security forces, coming under artillery fire, with missiles and drone attacks.
Iran accuses the groups of using Iraqi territory to destabilise its security by launching attacks or fuelling unrest. It considers them terrorist organisations.
Iraqi Kurds host camps for several Iranian-Kurdish factions, which Iran has accused of serving western or Israeli interests in the past. Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, also has bases in Kurdistan.
A ceremony was held on Thursday in the Kurdistan region to open a cultural centre in tribute to the late Kurdish hero Mustafa Barzani.
The event was attended by Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid and Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, as well as representatives of Iranian opposition groups.