KRG: We overlook abuses from Salih Muslim / THE END OF AN AFFAIR

12.11.2013 – BasNews (Erbil): The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has responded to the latest accusations from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) leader Salih Muslim.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government has overlooked Salih Muslim’s slandering of the region, because it has been in the Kurdish people’s interest. There is however a sense of resentment towards the way the PYD is acting in Syria,”  said Hamid Darbandi, head of Syrian Dossier at the Kurdistan Region Presidency, in a written statement. “The KRG is displeased with Muslim’s abusive rhetoric, and they have been ignoring all of this because Kurdish interest requires so,” Darbandi added.

Last month, Muslim accused the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of not allowing him to enter Iraqi Kurdistan, however, KDP denied the accusations stating that the border is controlled by the KRG not the KDP. Darbandi says that “despite all that has happened the KRG expresses its full support to Muslim for losing his son, Sharvan, in a fight against al-Qaeda extremists. The Kurdistan Region president, Masoud Barzani, personally offered his condolence.”

Darbandi attributed the closure of the border to bad relations between two Kurdish councils in Syria (Kurdistan National Council, which joined Syrian National Coalition and the PYD’s People’s Council of Syrian Kurdistan). This pushed the KRG to change its dynamic with the PYD. The KRG is adamant that they maintain good relations with all Kurdish parties in Syria in order to unify their stance, since Kurds are going through a key phase in their political history that requires unity, Darbandi said. The relations between the Iraqi Kurds (particularly the KDP) and the PYD, led by Salih Muslim, has been strained. It has been further exacerbated by the refusal to allow Muslim into the Kurdish region of Iraq.

http://www.basnews.net/en/News/Details/KRG–We-overlook-abuses-from-Salih-Muslim/5691