Iran
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani holding a press conference in Tehran on May 7, 2024. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani on Tuesday said that the Region’s parliamentary elections was not a topic of discussion in his meetings with Iranian officials during his Tehran trip, reiterating that the vote is still scheduled to take place on June 10.
Barzani arrived in Tehran on Sunday alongside a high-level delegation from the Kurdistan Region including Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed and several other senior officials. He met with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ebrahim Raisi, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian the following day.
“We have not talked about the Kurdistan Region’s elections as a topic in the meetings… We have determined the date of the elections, and to this moment we have not changed the day,” President Barzani told reporters during a presser in Tehran on Tuesday.
The Kurdistan Region is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections on June 10, after nearly two years of delays. The possibility of a further delay has been reported in recent weeks, after the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) announced that it would not be participating in protest over rulings from Iraq’s top court that the party deemed detrimental to the Region’s political entity.
Despite KDP's decision not to take part in the elections, the majority of the Kurdistan Region’s political parties, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the power-sharer in government, announced their participation in the vote and are still demanding the elections be held on its scheduled date.
“The political parties have their own interests and it is their right, but what is my responsibility as President of the Kurdistan Region is to ensure that it does not divide [the Region],” Barzani added.
Despite the KDP’s objection and the looming uncertainty over the fate of the elections, the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) continues preparations to hold the vote on the date specified by President Barzani.
“The commission has started printing the voting ballots that include the names of the political parties, alliances, and independent candidates participating in the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections,” Juamana al-Ghalai, spokesperson for IHEC told Rudaw’s Hemin Baban on Tuesday.
New start to relations with Iran
The Kurdistan Region and Iran enjoy good economic relations. During a forum in Sulaimani in April, Barzani said that Iran contributed to the economic “success” of the Kurdistan Region.
But the overall relations between the two sides have been fluctuating, mainly due to Tehran’s attacks on exiled Kurdish groups and deadly missile strikes on locations that it alleged were Mossad bases in the Region.
“Our visit was good for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we believe that this visit is a new start to the Kurdistan Region’s relations with Iran," said President Barzani.
“There are also issues and we cannot say there are no issues, but what is important is we have to attempt to resolve these issues. We saw a strong will from this trip to resolve the issues that exist between us," he added.
President Barzani labeled the ties between Iran and the Kurdistan Region as “very important and historic.”
During his meeting with Raisi, President Barzani discussed Tehran and Erbil’s historic ties, venues for increased cooperation, regional security, and the need to fully implement the security pact between Iraq and Iran and complete the disarmament of Kurdish exiled groups in the border areas.
“The Kurdistan Region cannot and should not be a source of threat to neighbors, and Iran is an important neighbor to us. Armed groups should not exist in the Kurdistan Region, and they should not come into Iran, carry out armed activities, and return to the Kurdistan Region. This is unacceptable," he said.
A security pact signed between Iran and Iraq in March 2023 saw Baghdad agree to disarm Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups and secure the border regions. Iran had threatened to use military action if Baghdad failed to fulfill the agreement. In September, Baghdad announced that it had disarmed the exiled groups and that offices previously used by the groups had been evacuated.
Iran has long accused the Erbil of harboring opposition groups it considers threats to its national security and allowing them to use the border areas as a launchpad for attacks. Erbil has categorically rejected Tehran's accusations.
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