Kurdish Islamic leader makes 'progress' on trip to mend ties with Turkey

DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – A Kurdish Islamic leader seeking to normalize ties between Erbil and Ankara post-referendum said they have "made progress" on a trip to Turkey.

 

Salahadin Bahadin, head of the moderate Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) that has close ties with the Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), had a "successful trip" to Turkey, he told reporters on his return to the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday.

 

He met with decision makers within the AKP and the government but said it was not necessary to name those he met when asked whether he met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

 

He said the KIU used its weight and ties with Turkish officials to "normalize" the relationship that was fractured by Turkey's opposition to Kurdistan's independence referendum.

 

"Thanks be to God, progress was made in our mission," Bahadin said, adding that he wanted to make people "happy" with the progress made during his trip.

 

The KRG should continue its relations with Turkey, who has been a close friend, he said.

 

Stressing pride in his party's support for the referendum that was "an expression of existence, which is not a crime," he blamed negative reactions to the vote on misunderstandings and mistakes. 

 

KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani on Monday praised the Islamic leader for his trip to Turkey. 

 

"He has done everything in his power as the Secretary General of the Kurdistan Islamic Union to normalize the current situation. We see his visit to Turkey within this framework. It will definitely be helpful for the situation of the Kurdistan Region," Barzani said.

 

The KIU has its origins in the global Muslim Brotherhood movement and has friendly ties with other Islamic parties across the Middle East. The party is expected to make use of its network of relations with parties based in Turkey to push for mending ties between Erbil and Ankara.

 

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim last week praised an Iraqi Federal Court ruling that cancelled the referendum and its consequences.

 

Iraq and the United Nations have both called on the Kurdistan Region to state in clear terms that they respect the court ruling. Turkey has also called on the KRG to cancel the vote. 

 

The KRG, however, does not have the power to cancel the referendum, a senior Kurdish official told Rudaw on Sunday. 

 

Dilshad Shahab, an adviser to PM Barzani, said that Erbil does not have the legal power to cancel the votes of more than 3 million people who chose to leave Iraq.

 

"Nobody can cancel the referendum. They [Iraq] also know that the Kurdistan Regional Government cannot pass a decision to say 'we cancelled the votes of millions of people,'" said Shahab. He is a senior member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).  

 

PM Barzani said on Monday that his government respected verdicts of the court in the past, but the latest ruling on November 20 calls for the annulment of the consequences of the Kurdish vote. He argued that the KRG has not taken any steps after the vote so has nothing to cancel.

 

Baghdad, however, has taken actions after the vote, he added, and per the court ruling the Iraqi government must annul its decisions to ban international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region and deploy Iraqi forces to the disputed areas, among other punitive measures.