KDP, PUK meet in Baghdad espousing Kurdish unity after Iraqi election
The KDP and PUK expressed that the goal of their meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday was to ensure Kurdish unity.
“We had a short meeting to have some sort of coordination in talks between all the Kurdistani sides with the Iraqis and at the end the objective of all the political sides should be to preserve the Kurdistan people’s achievements,” Khasraw Goran, head of the KDP internal elections body, told Rudaw in Baghdad.
The KDP also has said it was heading to Baghdad to go at it alone.
“As the KDP, we asked to have a joint delegation and run for the Iraqi parliament election on a joint list but it was not done, unfortunately,” Goran added.
He explained the meeting was not official, but just “to be aware of one another.”
“Our unity guarantees better achievements and the protection of the rights of Kurdistan people,” said Goran.
There will be more meetings in the Kurdistan Region between the KDP and PUK and other political parties so “we can hold talks as one team with the Iraqi parties,” he added.
Khalid Shwani, a PUK leadership member weighed in, saying it was important for Kurdish parties to have a common “Kurdish agenda” in Baghdad to advocate for the rights of Kurds in Baghdad as Erbil and Baghdad are plagued in long standing impending issues.
“The more united Kurdistan’s parties are and share in the same discourse, and have a united plan, the better they can impose their weight in Baghdad and leverage balance between the political parties in Baghdad so we can achieve our demands,” Shwani said.
He said Kurdish parties have to seize the “fragmentation of the Iraqi parties to the interest of the people of Kurdistan.”
Since the fall of the Saddam regime, the post of the Iraqi presidency has been held by a Kurd from the PUK.
“Though it is early to talks about it… as the PUK, we think the post of the Iraqi president is the share of the PUK,” Shwani added.
For his part, Goran of the KDP said: “we have not come to Baghdad to talk about posts, but to talk to the Iraqi sides.”
The KDP won 25 seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections on May 12 — the most by any Kurdish party — while the PUK was second with 18 amid fierce competition in its Sulaimani strongold.
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KDP, PUK meet in Baghdad
10:28 a.m.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — PUK and KDP delegations are meeting in Baghdad on Wednesday prior to the PUK visiting the four winning lists in Iraq’s parliamentary elections and KDP meeting with other top Shite list politicians.
Karwan Yarwais, the head of the PUK politburo media office, confirmed to Rudaw that “before starting its official meetings in Baghdad, the PUK delegation will meet with the KDP.”
Yarwais added that his party delegation will meet with Muqtada al-Sadr, Haider al-Abadi, Nouri al-Maliki and Hadi al-Amiri.
Sadr's Sayirun alliance with Iraq's communist party won 54 seats. Fatih was second with 47 seats. Abadi's Nasr (Victory) list followed with 42, Maliki's State of Law Coalition had 26, and the KDP 25.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, earned 18, second-most seats among Kurdish parties in Iraq’s parliamentary election — down from 21 in 2014.
Yarwais added they will visit Ammar al-Hakim and Osama al-Nujafi, a prominent Sunni politician, and others on Thursday during their two-day visit.
The PUK and KDP delegations have separately visited Baghdad with a top KDP official believing that none of the Kurdish parties were ready to form a joint delegation to meet parties in Baghdad do discuss the matter of the formation of the government.
It is “damaging” for all Kurds not to be united before entering talks with Baghdad, Fazil Mirani, the head of the KDP politburo, told Rudaw.
The KDP delegation will meet with Iraqi President Fuad Masum, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Ayad Allawi, a current vice president and former Iraqi PM.