Kurdistan referendum committee to meet with President Barzani on Saturday

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Representatives of the political parties in the Kurdistan Region are to meet with President Masoud Barzani on Saturday to discuss the preparations for the referendum on independence, a committee member told Rudaw.

 

Abu Karwan, a member of the committee from the Kurdistan Communist Party, said on Wednesday that he hopes those parties who have not yet appointed their representatives to the committee  will do so in the future to help what he called a “national” cause.

 

He said that refusing to do so will negatively affect the referendum process.

The committee was formed in a June 7 meeting between the majority of the parties in the Kurdistan Region chaired by President Barzani. It is tasked with preparing for the September 25 referendum.

 

Gorran, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Islamic Group (Komal)  all have not appointed their representatives.

 

Gorran, PUK, the Islamic Union, and Komal — all members of the Kurdish coalition government — say they are in favor of the referendum, but it must have a mandate from the now paralyzed Kurdistan parliament.

 

Hoshyar Zebari, a senior KDP member who is widely believed to chair the referendum committee, told Rudaw in June that the legitimacy of the referendum  would be “more valid” if the Kurdistan parliament is to be active and functioning. He however maintained that the referendum does not need an act from the parliament.

 

All attempts to reactivate the parliament has so far failed, including a joint offer from the KDP and PUK on June 13, conditioned that the present chief staff, including the parliament speaker, resign after the first session.

 

Komal and Gorran turned down the offer with the latter saying that they do not accept any conditions attached to any initiatives aimed at reopening the parliament.

 

The Kurdish parliament has not convened since October 2015 when the security forces in Erbil, largely under the control of the KDP, blocked the speaker Yousif Mohammed, a Gorran party member, from returning to the capital where the parliament is located.

 

The row between the the KDP and Gorran worsened when protests broke out in areas under the influence of the Gorran Movement in Sulaimani province in October 2015 leading to the deaths of several KDP members. The KDP accused Gorran of orchestrating the violent protests. Gorran denied the accusations.

 

The tensions between the two parties had also remained strained when the speaker Yousif Mohammed refused to cancel a parliament session planned to discuss President Masoud Barzani's second-term in office which was due to expire on August 19.