US Congress Removes Kurdish Ruling Parties From Terrorist List / KDP and PUK have been on US terrorist list since 2001

MESOP : GOOD GOD ! WHAT A GREAT MOVE AFTER YEARS !

ERBIL – The two Iraqi Kurdish ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Union (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), have been removed from the United States terrorist list.A senior US official has revealed that the US Congress has passed a law that will clear the way for Washington to remove the long-time US allies from the list.

On Saturday, Brett McGurk, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Syria, confirmed the removal of the two Kurdish parties from the terrorist list on his twitter account. “Congress has passed the NDAA [The National Defense Authorization Act] w/a provision removing PUK & KDP from the list of designated organizations under U.S. immigration laws”, wrote McGurk.

“This unfair designation complicated visa processing for many Kurds wishing to visit the US. We are pleased to see it fixed”, added the senior US official. In February, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani refused to travel to the US and meet President Barack Obama until Washington removed the Kurdistan Region’s two main parties from its designated terrorist list. The KDP and PUK have been on the US blacklist since 2001, under the existing Patriot Act as a Tier III terrorist group. Members of the PDK and the PUK were classified as terrorists and thus prohibited from obtaining visas to enter the United States. In April, two prominent U.S. Senators, Robert Menendez and John McCain, introduced a bill to remove the Kurdish political parties from the US terror list.