SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The Change Movement (Gorran) has declined to send its suspended ministers back to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said he would be “happy” to see them serving in their posts.
Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) suspended the Gorran ministers, including those from the key Ministries of Finances and Peshmerga, in 2015 when relations between the two parties hit their lowest point over unresolved disagreements, particularly the term of then President Masoud Barzani.
PM Barzani said on Monday that the decision to suspend the Gorran ministers was unfortunate and it was now time to end the suspension.
“Gorran are part of the political process in this country. I have said before, and now I repeat, they have a number of seats in the Kurdistan parliament. We cannot ignore these seats,” PM Barzani told reporters in Erbil. Gorran has 24 seats.
“I will be happy to see their ministers to come back to the cabinet and begin their work.”
Gorran spokesperson Shorsh Haji told Rudaw that the party is sticking to their earlier call for the KRG to be dissolved.
“The KDP and PUK [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan] and the Kurdistan government have failed in a big way. Not only did they bring failure, but they also brought catastrophe on our nation,” Haji said on Monday.
“That is why we have asked the rulers to resign. Mr Masoud [Barzani] resigned under whatever pretext. We demand the Kurdistan Regional Government resign and form an interim salvation government whose only mission will be to negotiate with Baghdad and prepare for the election,” he added.
A government that has failed and lost the war with Iraqi forces should not enter talks with “victorious” Iraq, Haji argued.
PM Barzani met with the leader of Gorran, Omar Sayyid Ali, in early October. He said they had “frank discussions” and was hopeful it was a first step to further talks and ultimately resolving problems between the two parties.
Gorran, the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), and the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ) of former Kurdistan Region PM Barham Salih, have jointly called for the establishment of an interim government.
The KDP and PUK, who have great influence over the Peshmerga and security forces and hold 56 seats in the 111-seat parliament, have rejected the demand to establish an interim government.
Asked about the call from Gorran, Kurdistan’s second-largest party, to dissolve the government, PM Barzani said on October 23 that they are open to listening to the concerns of Gorran and other parties, but stressed that the current government is inclusive.
