KRG ministers & deputies will not return Baghdad

Erbil- Kurd Press / MESOP – 15.4.2013 – The deputies and ministers of Kurdistan Region were decided on Sunday in a Kurdish delegation meeting with the region’s president Massoud Barzani to continue boycotting Baghdad government and parliament meetings until the disputes between the northern region and the central government are resolved.

The deputies and ministers made the yesterday decision after the region’s delegation could not come to any terms with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki and the leader of National Alliance Ibrahim al- Jaffari over disputes.

The delegation and Barzani, however, decided to establish two financial and military delegations to meet the Iraq Ministers of finance and armed forces and discuss disputes. The yesterday’s meeting in Erbil was boycotted by the region’s main opposition Change Movement. The movement, NRT said, has decided to ban any government meetings until a decision is made about Barzani’s mandate to run as the region’s president for the third time. The opposition line is against prolonging Barzani’s term and says it’s illegal as the constitution of the region stresses a person can only run as the president two terms in a row. The Kurdish deputies and ministers decided unanimously to quit Baghdad on March 17 in protest to Iraq parliament’s passing of the region’s budget in the absence the Kurdish deputies.

The biggest budget in the history of Iraq, 2013 budget of the country was set to 118.6 billion dollars.