ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Senior officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) have been invited to neighboring Iran for talks on the formation of the next Kurdish cabinet, following an apparent deadlock nearly four months after elections, sources told Rudaw.
They said that PUK deputy leader Barham Salih, as well as prominent leadership members Kosrat Rasol Ali and Hero Ahmed, will travel to Tehran at the invitation of the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, PUK media reports add that Nechirvan Barzani, the incumbent prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and a prominent leader of the KDP, is also taking part in the talks in Tehran. But there has been no independent confirmation of that by other sources.
Sources said that the main topic of the meetings between the Kurdish and Iranian officials is about the government formation.
They are also expected to discuss a PUK convention, scheduled for later this month, where the party is supposed to finalize its demands for partnership in a coalition government with the KDP and other parties that won parliamentary seats in last September’s elections.
The latest move by Tehran appears to be a step to ensure its overarching influence and interests are protected in the autonomous Kurdish enclave, following months of fruitless haggling by political parties over the shape of the next government.
Iran’s influence largely lies in territories held by the PUK. The party’s internal issues, exacerbated by the absence of its ailing leader Jalal Talabani for more than a year and the recent election loss to the breakaway Change movement (Gorran), could pose serious threats to Iranian interests in Kurdistan.
The KRG held its legislative polls on September 21, but the winning parties have failed to agree on the shape of the new government. Many blame the delay on the PUK’s internal fissures, as well as its insistence on being treated as an equal partner of the KDP, despite the election rout.
Since the polls, a senior Iranian delegation led by Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi, chief of staff and advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani, have visited the Kurdistan Region several times for talks with Kurdish political groups about the make-up of the next government.
