ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish President Masoud Barzani has instructed his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to work with other parties to find a mechanism to hold the promised referendum on independence. “Barzani asked in the leadership meeting that they find a mechanism with other parties for the referendum on independence,” Aras Hasso Mirkhan, a member of the KDP leadership council told Rudaw. Mirkhan said that Barzani asked his party officials to work with other parties on the referendum project at a party meeting this week. The KDP is trying to resolve all political disagreements and prevent further deterioration, added Mirkhan, and in light of that “the PUK and KDP are set to hold an important meeting,” Kurdish political parties drifted apart in recent months after violent demonstrations in October that targeted KDP offices in some cities and the expulsion of parliament speaker and government ministers of the Change Movement (Gorran). The last few weeks however, have seen the parties meet in Erbil and Sulaimani to sort out their differences. The PUK that once had a ‘strategic agreement’ with the KDP and formed coalition governments appears to be back on track with the KDP. Leaders of both parties have held several high level meetings in recent weeks. A PUK leader who spoke to Rudaw on condition of anonymity said that his party will have a say in decisions about the future of Kurdistan. “On many issues related to the fate of the Kurdistan Region we will make decisions together with the KDP and the KDP is willing to go forward with this,” he said. Barzani asked the Kurdish parliament last year to lay the groundwork for a referendum on the Kurdish independence. That project however was put on hold due to the war against the Kurdish region by the Islamic State (ISIS). For his part, Barzani insists that the postponement of referendum was only temporary. “I don't know whether it happens next year or when, but independence is certainly coming,” said Barzani during a Q&A at the Washington-based think-tank Atlantic Council in May. The Kurdish president vowed that the people of the Kurdistan Region will have an opportunity to decide their own future as soon as the threat of ISIS was over. “I want to reassert that [Kurdistan independence] is an ongoing process, but we want it through peace, understanding and dialogue not violence,” he said.
