MESOP NEWS : KDP to contact parties over referendum on Iraqi Kurdistan independence / Aref Taifour, a KDP politburo member

HEWLÊR-Erbil, 14 May 2016 –  The politburo of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has been delegated to contact Kurdish political parties over scheduling a date for a referendum to be held on the independence of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, a politburo member said on Saturday.

Aref Taifour, a KDP politburo member, told official KDP media, “The KDP politburo has been assigned to contact the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and visit other political parties in order to hold a referendum, since a specific time must be scheduled for it. “

Taifour told NRT the KDP has formed a committee headed by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani over the referendum and that the PUK will be the first party to visit before the other parties

He added, if the Change Movement (Gorran) is willing, the committee will visit them as well, asserting there are some internal issues but they would be resolved.

The politburo member considered the current situation to be suitable for holding a referendum and said, “In any case, if any party is not ready to participate in the referendum, it will be responsible and will have no word in history.”

Ali Husein, the head of the KDP’s second branch and a member of the party’s leadership council, confirmed the PUK and the KDP are due to hold a number of meetings.

“All the meetings will be a bid for unity [among Kurdish parties] in Baghdad, as well as to find a solution to the issues we have in the Kurdistan Region,” Hussein added.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) released a written statement last week on May 5 emphasizing the need for serious steps to be taken to implement a referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan Region.The party’s leadership council held a meeting led by Masoud Barzani and released the statement following the meeting.“The people of Kurdistan in general and particularly the political parties must be ready to fully face any possible consequence and keep up with the changes,” the statement said.Barzani, who has been calling for a referendum, has said a referendum would not indicate an immediate declaration of statehood in the Kurdistan Region. Instead he says it would gauge the readiness and enthusiasm of the region’s residents for such a move.

Massoud Barzani said last March a referendum on the Kurdistan Region’s independence would likely be held before October of this year – barring any outstanding circumstances.

Last month, the speaker of Iraq’s Kurdistan parliament, Yusuf Mohamed Sadiq accused a particular political party of using the self-determination issue as means to stay in power and monopoly it. An independence referendum in the Kurdish region will not take place before the Kurdistan Parliament is reactivated, the legislature’s secretary said on last April.Kurdistan Parliament Secretary Fakhradin Qadir said a draft resolution on the independence referendum was submitted to MPs, but that no decision has been reached as the Kurdistan Parliament remains in recess amid political infighting on a number of issues, including the region’s presidency. www.mesop.de