US welcomes KDP, PUK efforts to resolve intra-Kurdish tensions

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States said Saturday it welcomes the recent efforts being taken by the Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties to resolve their internal tensions and called for a united Kurdish house as delegations of the parties met in Sulaimani. 

“We welcome our partners in the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] taking steps to repair internal relations for the benefit of their people. Working together, they can build a more resilient #Iraqi_Kurdistan_Region,” the US Consulate in Erbil said while quoting a piece by Rudaw English on Twitter. 

The politburos of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) held a high-level meeting in the latter’s stronghold of Sulaimani on Saturday, with the delegations consisting of key ministers and politburo members, as well as Qubad Talabani, the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Region. 

According to a joint statement, the meeting was aimed at discussing the “matters related to the political situation of the Kurdistan Region, and exchange comments and positions on many existing subjects.” The KDP and the PUK agreed to hold another meeting “in the near future,” it added.   
The two parties have been at loggerheads in recent months over the Region’s parliamentary elections, the transparency of the oil and local income of the provinces under their influence, and the assassination of a former PUK colonel in Erbil in October. 

The recent escalation in the tensions between both governing parties has led to the PUK’s boycotting of the government’s weekly meetings headed by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, with Talabani also not attending the Council of Ministers meetings. 

Despite working together in the KRG, the two parties have established control over different parts of the Region, often being referred to as the “Yellow Zone” and “Green Zone.“ The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja.