SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) says its delegations will resume talks with other Kurdish parties on forming a new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet this week, with one official saying that too many demands are the reason for the slow process of negotiations.
For its part the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) blames deep disagreements with the KDP for the lack of progress in the talks.
As the winner of the September parliamentary elections with 45 seats the KDP has met with the PUK and Change Movement (Gorran) in the past several weeks, but without any concrete results.
The talks are due to resume on Tuesday, according to the KDP.
“The discussions have prolonged due to PUK demands,” a KDP official told Rudaw on condition of anonymity. “The PUK wants to reach a new agreement with the KDP before discussing the formation of the new KRG cabinet.”
He added that the PUK is trying to persuade the KDP to “return to Kirkuk and vote for the PUK candidate for Kirkuk governor in the provincial council. They also demand they be given a ministry in Baghdad.”
The KDP believes the PUK demands “are irrelevant to the KRG.”
According to the KDP source the PUK is eager for an agreement and assignment of government posts in Baghdad and in Erbil, but the KDP believes the cards should not be mixed.
“In recent meetings held in Sulaimani and in the meeting of KDP-PUK politburos in Erbil, the PUK delegation had told the KDP that the PUK was ready to even form a joint bloc with the KDP in the Kurdistan parliament and in Baghdad as well if a new agreement is reached between the two,” he said.
The KDP stance is that “Positions in Baghdad should not be mixed with posts in the KRG and that the question of Kirkuk can be settled in a different agreement and they can be real partners in the government too.”
PUK leadership member Arez Abdullah admitted that his party had many demands, but he added that it was necessary so as to end all disagreements in one go.
“We should resolve all our problems and disputes if we want to be together and have a strong government and Kurdistan,” Abdullah said.
“In order to have a strong government, we should end the problem of Kirkuk and Baghdad, the issue of foreign relations, financial and political problems.”
A second PUK official said that unless all issues are put on the table and resolved now the Kurds will face further problems down the road.
He said, “We have told the KDP that we will encounter problems halfway through the government if we don’t have such an agreement and we do not shoulder our responsibilities.”
The KDP however, has had more promising meetings with Gorran and given assurances that the system will remain parliamentary and the next president will be elected in parliament too.
“We should wait and see whether the KDP is serious in making reforms, what agreements it will reach with PUK, and whether peoples’ living conditions will be improved,” said a member of Gorran’s national assembly.
