Gorran and PUK discuss 'interim government' in meeting

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Gorran and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) met in Sulaimani, their first meeting since the independence referendum.

 

Kurdish parties have been engaged in intensive talks after Baghdad rejected the vote and Iraqi forces pushed the Peshmerga back to 2003 borders. In the wake the losses, Gorran has called for the establishment of an interim government tasked with talking to Baghdad and preparing for elections.

Hero Ibrahim, among other PUK leaders, met with Gorran's leadership and head Omar Sayeed Ali on Wednesday.

The PUK's Imad Ahmad told reporters they discussed "catastrophic" events that led to the loss of Kirkuk and other areas, among other issues of concern.

Asked about Gorran's proposal for an interim government that has been officially presented to both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Ahmad said cryptically, "This will become a project for all of us."

 

Gorran, which had initially called for the dissolution of the KRG, is now pushing for an "interim government" after the PUK and KDP refused the more drastic move.

Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and his deputy Qubad Talabani, who have been praised internationally as "new leadership," met with Gorran on Tuesday.

 

PM Barzani said he does not fully understand Gorran's position, saying the current KRG is "interim" itself. The parliament voted in October to postpone elections for eight months and extend its own mandate until elections are held.

 

Gorran also put forward several proposals: addressing the delayed and reduced salaries of KRG employees, ensuring the protection of the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and preventing other countries from fighting proxy wars in the Kurdistan Region, and holding free and fair elections on time.

 

Barzani said he has listened to their demands. He was also expected to invite Gorran's ministers who were suspended in 2015.

 

Gorran only returned to the parliament after Masoud Barzani resigned from the presidency on November 1. The party had called Masoud Barzani's term illegal, after it was twice extended. The dispute soured relations between Gorran and Barzani's KDP.