MESOP : WHO CAN REANIMATE A DEAD BODY ? – KDP says PUK, Gorran cannot reactivate Iraqi Kurdistan parliament

HEWLÊR-Erbil, 23 June 2016 – nrttv.com –  Deputy Speaker of Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament Jaafar Emniki said on Wednesday a committee formed by members of blocs from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran) will not reactivate Kurdistan’s Parliament.Emniki said on the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) official website, “Parliament won’t be reactivated with the committee created by the PUK and Gorran’s blocs in parliament, since they know very well that there was a political cause to the deactivation of parliament.”

He added the PUK and Gorran had a role in the “political cause”

Emniki said the KDP’s absence in the Kurdistan Region’s political process would not lead to progress, adding the KDP is the most powerful political force in the region as shown by elections.

“If they [PUK and Gorran] want to reactivate parliament there must be a new consensus,” Emniki said. “A renewal of the political process is required to reactivate parliament and a new consensus must take place, since without the KDP the steps to reactivate parliament cannot be made and without the KDP parliament cannot be reactivated.”

Emniki encouraged all parties to return to the negotiation table.

The PUK and Gorran have made the decision to form a new committee from their members in parliament to create coalition blocs in the parliaments of Iraq and Kurdistan.  Joint leadership of the PUK and Gorran met with their members in Kurdistan’s Parliament on Tuesday, deciding to form a joint committee made up of MPs from both parties to determine the best way to create coalition blocs.

The crisis erupted after KDP leader Massoud Barzani, whose term as Kurdistan President ended on August 20, 2015 but refused to step down and remains unofficially in office.  According to the law in Kurdistan, Barzani cannot run for presidency anymore.

Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani has removed four members of his cabinet from the Change Movement on October 13, 2015. Iraqi Kurdistan Parliament’s Speaker Yusuf Mohammad Sadiq was prevented from entering Erbil city on October 11, 2015. Since then the Kurdish parliament has been suspended. The expelled ministers were replaced on October 28, 2015 with KDP politicians.

Sadiq has since worked out of the parliament office in Sulaimani.

The Gorran Movement accused the KDP of a monopoly all government’s positions in Erbil, and it does not believe in the principles of true partnership and and peaceful transfer of power.

The head of the Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG) [Komal] bloc in the Kurdistan Parliament and MP Marwan Gallaly said last week the Parliament could be in recess until the next round of elections in the Kurdistan Region in 2017.

Gallaly said “a lack of willingness among Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) members have blocked efforts to reactivate the assembly.” www.mesop.de