Iraq’s Kurds give push to freedom from Baghdad

Erbil, July 21
The president of Iraq’s autonomous region of Kurdistan has called a parliamentary and presidential election for November which could help ease a long-running political row as the Kurds push for independence from Baghdad.
The elections will follow an independence referendum set for September 25, a move that will strain Iraq’s frayed federal unity and annoy neighbours Syria, Turkey and Iran, who also have sizable Kurdish populations.
The political developments take place as Iraqi government forces push back Islamic State militants from territory in northern Iraq, a campaign in which Kurdish peshmerga forces have played a vital role.
The Kurdistan region last held a presidential election in 2009 and a parliamentary election in 2013. President Masoud Barzani won the 2009 poll but has said he will not stand again.
His term of office expired in 2013 and has been extended twice, during which time Kurdistan has suffered bouts of unrest and political disarray. The parliament has not met since October 2015. An aide to Barzani said the election was set for November 1.
“All concerned parties are committed to do the necessary work and will support and co-ordinate with the Kurdistan Higher Independent Election Commission and Referendum to implement this decree,” Erbil-based Rudaw TV quoted a decree as saying.
Following the 2013 parliamentary election, Barzani formed a broad-based government led by his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with the Gorran (Change) movement holding a number of posts, including the parliamentary speaker.
In an escalating political crisis, four Gorran ministers were removed from the cabinet in October 2015 and the speaker of parliament was barred from entering the capital. The KDP accused Gorran, which had demanded a reduction of Barzani’s powers, of orchestrating violent protests in which party offices were attacked.
The Kurdistan parliament has not sat since. However, the KDP said this week it would drop its conditions for reconvening the parliament to help the independence referendum succeed, including allowing the speaker, Yousif Mohammed, to return.