Kurdistan
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani speaks at the Erbil Forum on February 26, 2025. Photo: Rudaw
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani revealed on Wednesday that jailed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan will soon call on the armed group to disarm as peace talks with Turkey are expected to culminate in ending decades of hostilities between the two sides.
Speaking at the Erbil Forum 2025, Barzani stated that Ocalan’s message “is a peace message” and will be “delivered soon.” In his message, Ocalan “will call on the PKK to lay down arms and enter the political process,” the Kurdistan Region president elaborated.
A delegation from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party’s (DEM Party) on February 8 stated that Ocalan would make a “historic call” to permanently resolve the Kurdish issue in Turkey.
In recent months, the DEM Party has been spearheading peace efforts between Ankara and the PKK. Earlier in February, a DEM Party delegation visited the Kurdistan Region and met with senior Kurdish officials, including Barzani. The Kurdistan Region president then noted that the visit came at Ocalan’s request.
The peace process between the PKK and Turkey “is a serious process,” Barzani stated, adding that “our role is the role of a helper, but it is not in our authority to interfere in Turkey’s internal affairs.”
However, the PKK remains wary of Ocalan’s anticipated message and has expressed concerns over its mechanism, reiterating that it will not consider his potential calls to disarm unless he is allowed to physically meet the group’s leadership and is released from Ankara’s secluded Imrali prison.
“This issue will not be resolved through [a confrontation in] arms,” President Barzani emphasized, adding that resolving the Turkey-PKK conflict will require significant time.
On Monday, a DEM Party official revealed that a party delegation is set to visit Ocalan in prison “in the coming days,” to brief the jailed PKK leader on their meetings with the Kurdistan Region’s top leaders.
“We are awaiting the first step – how will the PKK respond to Ocalan’s call?” Barzani asked on Wednesday.
Founded in 1978, the PKK initially advocated for the establishment of an independent Kurdistan but now seeks autonomy. Turkey, the European Union, and the United States classify the group as a terrorist organization.
Kurdish oil exports
The Kurdistan Region is inching closer to resuming its oil exports, almost two years after they were suspended when a Paris-based arbitration court ruled in favor of Baghdad against Ankara, stating that the latter had violated a 1973 pipeline agreement by allowing Erbil to begin independent oil exports in 2014.
During his speech, President Barzani said that the resumption now depends on technicalities.
“The technical aspect remains. Everything is ready. Turkey is ready and the Iraqi side is ready. Only the technical part remains,” Barzani said.
On Sunday, the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) struck an agreement to restart Kurdish oil exports after Baghdad confirmed the completion of procedures. This came after the federal parliament approved an amendment to the budget law, increasing compensation fees for oil companies operating in the Region.
“Iraq has incurred losses of nearly $19-20 billion” because of the halt in Kurdish oil exports, according to Barzani, who called it a “very significant loss for Iraq.” He added that Ankara has “no problem with the Kurdistan Region exporting oil” through its Ceyhan port.
Before the suspension, Erbil was exporting approximately 400,000 barrels of oil per day via the Iraq-Turkey pipeline, in addition to around 75,000 barrels of oil from Kirkuk.
KRG formation efforts
The Kurdistan Region held its delayed parliamentary elections in October, but political parties have yet to reach an agreement on the shape of the new government.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the most seats in the October ballot, securing 39 out of 100 spots in the regional parliament. The PUK came second with 23 seats.
“As we sit here, in Erbil, the PUK and the KDP delegations are engaging in serious discussions on the formation of the next Kurdistan Regional Government,” President Barzani said.
Calling the 72 percent voter turnout in the October elections as a “source of pride,” Barzani thanked the Kurdistan Region’s people for their trust in the political process. He also thanked Baghdad for its support.
“The election that we held in the Kurdistan Region, honestly I thank Baghdad for their complete support and assistance … for being partners to help us carry out the successful election,” the Kurdistan Region’s president said.
On Sunday, PUK leader Bafel Talabani said that forming the KRG’s tenth cabinet will be complicated, though talks are progressing “very well” with the KDP, he confirmed.
The KDP and PUK, while rivals, have shared power in government since the establishment of the Kurdistan Region in the nineties.
President Barzani affirmed that the KDP and PUK are the “main blocs” forming the government, and that they “need to sit together and form the government, and the other parties need to participate too,” he said.
Erbil-Baghdad issues
The KRG and the Iraqi federal government have long been at loggerheads on multiple issues, and both governments have accused each other of failing to pay the Kurdistan Region’s civil servants’ salaries.
In his Wednesday address, President Barzani criticized Baghdad for being “so central” in its decision-making, noting that “such centralism does not exist anywhere else in the world.”
The Kurdistan Region President explained that the biggest issue complicating ties between Erbil and Baghdad is “that we have a federal system by name, but by practice and implementation, it is everything but a federal system. It is a completely centralized system.”
Salaries have been a priority for many people since the KRG has failed to settle the wages of its large civil servant workforce on time and in full for a decade, due to a financial crisis that worsened when its oil exports stopped in March 2023.
Erbil is now dependent on local income sources and its controversial federal budget share.
Barzani explained that “if this problem [of centralization] is resolved, we will no longer have issues of salary non-payments and other issues.”
Kurds in Syria
A coalition of rebel groups led by the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria on December 8. Since then, the new Damascus leadership has been adamant about its resolve for centralization and rejected all calls for federalism.
This has prompted condemnations from Syria’s Kurdish and Druze communities.
“Our message for our [Kurdish] brothers [in Syria] is: You must be involved in the political process. You must not sit and wait, but go to Damascus and participate in the political process,” President Barzani said.
Damascus held a Syrian National Dialogue Conference on Tuesday to pave the way for free and fair elections, drafting of the constitution and establishment of an inclusive legislature.
However, the conference was condemned as exclusionary by Kurdish political fronts in northeast Syria (Rojava).
On Monday, the Kurdish National Council (ENKS/KNC) criticized the conference as “rushed,” censuring its “lack of balanced representation” as a “violation of the principle of national partnership.”
The Kurdish-led administration in Rojava also condemned its exclusion.
During the conference, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani reiterated that “Syria is one and will not be divided into parts.”
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s HTS is rooted in al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch – the al-Nusra front – and its controversial past has been a source of concern for the international community.
“If their policy is truly that they want to resolve Syria’s problems, I believe all sides must help them carry it out,” Barzani said, referring to the new Damascus administration’s controversial past. “We are concerned about the administration’s resolve for centralization,” President Barzani stated.
Kurdish ruling and opposition parties are working to overcome their differences in order to have a united front in dealings with Damascus. In late January, ENKS and Rojava’s ruling Democratic Union Party (PYD) agreed to send a joint delegation to Damascus to discuss the future of Kurds in Syria.
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