A transitional government should be established to negotiate with Baghdad and the central government should immediately withdraw its forces from Kirkuk and Khanaqin as a first step towards normalizing the situation, the party stated.
“The recent developments in Kirkuk and the disputed territories are a consequence of the political failures of Kurdistan’s ruling elites,” said Rebwar Karim Mahmood, spokesperson for the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), in a published statement on Thursday.
Mahmood said the Kurdistan government has lost moral and political credibility both within Kurdistan and internationally and called for the establishment of a transitional government “that can assume responsibility for negotiations with Baghdad, work to improve the daily lives of the Kurdish people, and prepare for free and fair elections.”
Without naming names, Mahmood warned against the Kurdish leadership leading the country into a civil war in order to divert attention away from their own failures.
Leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and some factions within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have blamed certain elements of the PUK for negotiating a hand over to Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shiite militias. The PUK leadership has denied the accusations.
The CDJ was established this fall by Barham Salih to run in elections that were scheduled to be held on November 1. Kurdistan’s electoral commission has ceased preparations for the November 1 parliamentary and presidential elections in light of the ongoing crisis.
A veteran politician, Salih broke away from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to establish the CDJ with the goal of injecting new life into the Region’s politics. He was the PUK’s deputy secretary, served as prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from 2009 to 2012, and was deputy prime minister of Iraq prior to that.
In order to address the immediate need to return security to the cities of Kirkuk and Khanaqin, the CDJ called on Baghdad to withdraw its military forces as a first step to “return peace and dignity” to the lives of the residents.
Iraqi forces took over control of Kirkuk, Khanaqin, and most of the disputed areas of Kirkuk and Nineveh provinces this week. The rapid take over, largely done without violence, has created fear among Kurdish populations in these areas. Thousands have fled their homes and sporadic violence has led to deaths.
The KRG on Thursday stated that it welcomed an initiative from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for dialogue and has asked for the international community to help start such talks between the two governments after relations between them froze over Kurdistan’s independence referendum.
