![Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani [L], President Masoud Barzani [R], both from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Kurdistan's Vice President Kosrat Rasul, also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Photo: Rudaw](https://www.rudaw.net/s3/rudaw.net/ContentFiles/295712Image1.jpg?version=2123551&mode=crop&quality=100&scale=both&w=1920&h=1200 "Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani [L], President Masoud Barzani [R], both from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and Kurdistan's Vice President Kosrat Rasul, also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Photo: Rudaw")
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Senior Kurdish officials from the leadership of the two main ruling parties are in a meeting to discuss the status of the Kurdish efforts to hold a referendum on Kurdish independence, attended by the Kurdistan Region’s President Masoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani.
Hoshyar Zebari, a senior official from President Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), told Rudaw on Monday that Tuesday’s meeting is to “to assess the meetings, and recent communications that happened lately,” making reference to a series of talks regarding a Kurdish referendum on independence.
The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) held a high-level meeting last week presided over by President Barzani founding a committee to discuss the issue of Kurdish independence with other Kurdish parties and the Iraqi federal government.
The PUK Deputy Secretary-General Kosrat Rasul, who is also Kurdistan’s Vice-President, together with senior members of his party, welcomed the KDP delegation at its politburo office in Erbil.
Rasul told Rudaw before today’s meeting that the two sides will discuss the current situation in the Kurdistan Region, including reactivating the Kurdish parliament that has not convened for about two years.
Gorran refused to meet with the joint KDP-PUK committee stating last Tuesday that the Kurdistan parliament is the only legitimate entity that should decide on conducting a referendum on independence.
On October 2015, the speaker of the Kurdistan Region's parliament Yousif Muhammed, a Gorran member, was told to leave the capital of Erbil and barred from returning to his post after disagreements between KDP and Gorran.
The KDP says that the referendum does not need an act from the now-paralyzed Kurdish parliament, a view not shared by the rival Gorran Movement.
The KDP-PUK joint committee met with almost all parties in Kurdistan except the Gorran Movement, and with some Turkish and Christian parties in the Kurdistan Region who showed their support for the independence referendum.
The Committee also met with leaders in Baghdad, including with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi who had already said he is not in support of the referendum.
In diplomatic efforts, the Kurdish committee hosted a high-level meeting with representatives of foreign missions in Erbil last week, including from Iran and Turkey who had already expressed their objections to the referendum.
Zebari told Rudaw Sunday night that holding referendum on independence is “not risk-free” and will test the water regarding reactions from other countries before the Kurdish leadership decides on declaring an independent Kurdistan, revealing that the issue has been discussed with all permanent members of the UN Security Council.
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