ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The suspended speaker of Kurdistan Region’s parliament Yousif Muhammad has spoken with the head and members of the biggest bloc in the Kurdish parliament for the first time in two years on the occasion of the new year of Newroz.
Omed Khoshnaw, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)’s parliamentary bloc told Rudaw that the house speaker talked with him by telephone to wish him a happy Newroz.
“He didn’t make the call only the speaker of parliament to the head of a bloc, but he in fact called individual members of our bloc and wished them a happy Newroz,” Khoshnaw revealed.
As a result of political disputes between the KDP and Change Movement (Gorran), Muhammad was told to leave the capital of Erbil in October 2015 and subsequently barred from returning to his post.
Khoshnaw added that in the last two years there have been similar occasions as Newroz without any contact between the two factions. This time however, things have changed, he said.
Khoshnaw believes the gesture of goodwill from the speaker of parliament may have been an outcome of President Masoud Barzani’s message to Gorran's leader after the death of his wife last week.
“In the Middle East and in the Kurdistan Region social ties have an impact on politics and so we hope those social ties become a basis for better and improved political relations,” said Khoshnaw.
The KDP and Gorran have met a few times in recent months, mainly in Sulaimani city, as part of new talks to end a political deadlock that has gripped the Kurdish region for two years.
“The situation in Kurdistan today requires us to take our steps responsibly and keeping in mind our national interests,” the head of KDP’s parliamentary bloc concluded.
