Peshmerga can return to Kirkuk – if Kurds join Sadr-Abadi bloc: Nasr

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi parties are busy building alliances which could soon form the basis of the country’s next government. To persuade the Kurdish parties to join its bloc, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi’s Nasr (Victory) alliance has offered to cut a deal on Kirkuk.

“Kirkuk is a Kurdish, Arab, Iraqi city,” Ahmed al-Hamdani, a high ranking Nasr official, told Rudaw. “We agree for the Peshmerga to return Kirkuk, as they bravely fought side by side with our forces to repel ISIS from Iraq.”

There was “good coordination between Kurds and Arabs and there is no damage to be incurred if the Peshmerga are our partners,” he added.

Last week, the Sayirun alliance – led by firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr – teamed up with Abadi’s Nasir, the Hikma Front, and Al-Wataniya to form the core of a parliamentary bloc. If the alliance can win over the Sunni and Kurdish parties, it is well placed to form a governing coalition.

Concessions on Kirkuk – often referred to as the ‘Kurdish Jerusalem’ – could seal the deal.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have prepared a 30 point agenda for government formation talks – among them a resolution to the Kirkuk question.

The Peshmerga, which defended Kirkuk from ISIS in 2014, was forced to withdraw from the disputed province when it was seized by the Iraqi Army and Hashd al-Shaabi Shiite paramilitias on October 16, 2017.

According to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the dispute over whether the ethnically mixed province ought to belong to the Kurdistan Region or remain part of Iraq is supposed to be settled in a referendum.

Under their negotiation terms, the Kurdish parties have called for the contested city to be run jointly between Erbil and Baghdad until the Article 140 is implemented.

“Article 140 is a constitutional article. The Kurdistan Region has the right to be administratively present in Kirkuk, as how it is the right of the Iraqi government to maintain a military and administrative presence in it, until the fate of the Article 140 is decided on?” Mahmoud Mohammed, KDP spokesperson, told Rudaw.

Masum meets KDP-PUK delegation

Fuad Masum, the Kurdish president of Iraq, met with a joint KDP-PUK delegation on Sunday to discuss moving negotiations forward and to prepare for the first parliament session. Under the constitutional timeline, this could be just days away.

The KDP and PUK, which together secured 43 seats in the Iraqi parliament, have been locked in several weeks of talks to agree a shared platform before entering negotiations with their Iraqi counterparts. This way they hope to secure the best possible deal for the Kurdish people.

Abdulla, Aliyawai, an advisor to Masum, told Rudaw the president has met with almost all of the winning parties.

The KDP-PUK delegation will pay another visit to the Iraqi capital on August 29 to meet with Iraqi parties, he said.

Peshmerga can return to Kirkuk – if Kurds join Sadr-Abadi bloc: Nasr

Kolbars return to border work as economic hardship deepens in Rojhelat

UK performance sheds light on Kurdish plight in early 1990s

Yazidi athlete from Shekhan becomes first Iraqi woman to lift 240kg in national championship

Related Articles

Kolbars return to border work as economic hardship deepens in Rojhelat

UK performance sheds light on Kurdish plight in early 1990s

Yazidi athlete from Shekhan becomes first Iraqi woman to lift 240kg in national championship