Much-Anticipated Meeting Between Kurdistan’s Opposition and Authorities on Saturday
03/06/2011
ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan--In the Kurdistan region of Iraq, once again all eyes and ears are fixed on a five-party meeting that is due to be held between the opposition and the ruling parties on Saturday.
The opposition hopes that the meetings are quick and bear fruit. The authorities say that good results will not come from making haste and setting timelines.
When demonstrations broke out in Sulaimani on February and lasted two months, Kurdistan’s three opposition parties, the Gorran movement, the Islamic Union and the Islamic Group came to the forefront of defending the protestors and demanding the authorities to pay heed to people’s grievances.
The opposition leaders, Nawshirwan Mustafa of Gorran, Ali Bapir of the Islamic Group and Salahaddin Bahaddin of the Islamic Union met and drafted a proposal of 22-points as condition for meeting with the authorities. The main points were the resignation of PM Barham Salih and dissolution of his cabinet.
These demands were immediately called unconstitutional by the ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). PM Salih was called to the parliament, but he survived a vote of confidence.
Both opposition and ruling parties stuck to their guns and refused to accept each other’s conditions. In the meantime demonstrations still continued in Sulaimani’s Azadi Square until they were finally quelled by the deployment of heavy security forces in April.
The opposition was angry over the presence of armed forces in the city and rejected any suggestion of talks unless they were withdrawn. But now it is all changing.
In the past few weeks both opposition and authorities in Kurdistan have used lenient tone in addressing the situation. Both sides spoke of the resumption of meetings and now it is finally taking place.
On Saturday the politburos of the two ruling and the three opposition parties are due to meet in the building of the Kurdish parliament in Erbil. The opposition will bring along their 22-point proposal and the ruling parties will present their 17-point project--both drafted separately at the peak of the protests.
Salahaddin Babekir, the spokesperson for the politburo of the Islamic Union told Rudaw that he expects the talks to have positive outcome and he hopes that they wouldn’t drag on forever.
I only hope they will bring good results
“The people of Kurdistan are tired of lengthy meetings. They want to see the result of the talks quickly.” said Babekir.
Babekir justified the opposition’s expectation for quick talks and immediate results by saying that both sides are already aware of what is in the agenda of the other party through the proposals that were announced weeks ago.
Muhammed Tofik, a leading member of the Gorran and a spokesperson for the movement hopes that there is no procrastination in the name of talks. However, he admits that the atmosphere of Saturday’s meeting will decide everything.
“The outcome of Saturday’s meeting and the nature of it will decide how things will go and how long the meetings should go on for.” said Tofik.
For their part, the two ruling parties who are equally excited about the meeting, do not like the idea of setting a time limit for the talks.
Azad Jundiani, the spokesperson for PUK’s politburo said that Saturday’s meeting is a very important one and the course of the day should decide matters not anything else.
“If we want that crucial meeting to have good results we shouldn’t give it any time line.” said Jundiani.
Jundiani said that about the outcome of the talks he is neither optimistic nor otherwise.
“I only hope they will bring good results.” he said.
Although it will be only high-ranking members of the five parties that will be meeting on Saturday, the main advocates for the resumption of talks have been the heads of the parties.
In a statement last month, president of the Kurdistan region Massound Barzani urged the authorities and the opposition to hurry in coming back to the negotiating table in order to solve the current political stalemate.
“I ask all parties to act based on their national and historic responsibilities and turn a new page to help reach a lasting solution for our problems,” said Barzani last month.
Jalal Talabani, the secretary general of the PUK and the current president of Iraq is back in Kurdistan to attend his party’s 36th anniversary. He is also anticipating Saturday’s meeting.
In a speech on his party’s anniversary Talabani used a very soft tone to address members of the opposition, mainly the Gorran movement which originally split from the PUK itself. He described them as “our old friends”
“I ask our old friends who are now a wing of the opposition to take a look at their own past and present,” said Talabani. “Your achievements and that of people all lie in the past. Without the help of the PUK and KDP any progress or change will be impossible. That’s why I urge you to answer our call that we want to conciliate.”
03/06/2011
ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan--In the Kurdistan region of Iraq, once again all eyes and ears are fixed on a five-party meeting that is due to be held between the opposition and the ruling parties on Saturday.
The opposition hopes that the meetings are quick and bear fruit. The authorities say that good results will not come from making haste and setting timelines.
When demonstrations broke out in Sulaimani on February and lasted two months, Kurdistan’s three opposition parties, the Gorran movement, the Islamic Union and the Islamic Group came to the forefront of defending the protestors and demanding the authorities to pay heed to people’s grievances.
The opposition leaders, Nawshirwan Mustafa of Gorran, Ali Bapir of the Islamic Group and Salahaddin Bahaddin of the Islamic Union met and drafted a proposal of 22-points as condition for meeting with the authorities. The main points were the resignation of PM Barham Salih and dissolution of his cabinet.
These demands were immediately called unconstitutional by the ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). PM Salih was called to the parliament, but he survived a vote of confidence.
Both opposition and ruling parties stuck to their guns and refused to accept each other’s conditions. In the meantime demonstrations still continued in Sulaimani’s Azadi Square until they were finally quelled by the deployment of heavy security forces in April.
The opposition was angry over the presence of armed forces in the city and rejected any suggestion of talks unless they were withdrawn. But now it is all changing.
In the past few weeks both opposition and authorities in Kurdistan have used lenient tone in addressing the situation. Both sides spoke of the resumption of meetings and now it is finally taking place.
On Saturday the politburos of the two ruling and the three opposition parties are due to meet in the building of the Kurdish parliament in Erbil. The opposition will bring along their 22-point proposal and the ruling parties will present their 17-point project--both drafted separately at the peak of the protests.
Salahaddin Babekir, the spokesperson for the politburo of the Islamic Union told Rudaw that he expects the talks to have positive outcome and he hopes that they wouldn’t drag on forever.
I only hope they will bring good results
“The people of Kurdistan are tired of lengthy meetings. They want to see the result of the talks quickly.” said Babekir.
Babekir justified the opposition’s expectation for quick talks and immediate results by saying that both sides are already aware of what is in the agenda of the other party through the proposals that were announced weeks ago.
Muhammed Tofik, a leading member of the Gorran and a spokesperson for the movement hopes that there is no procrastination in the name of talks. However, he admits that the atmosphere of Saturday’s meeting will decide everything.
“The outcome of Saturday’s meeting and the nature of it will decide how things will go and how long the meetings should go on for.” said Tofik.
For their part, the two ruling parties who are equally excited about the meeting, do not like the idea of setting a time limit for the talks.
Azad Jundiani, the spokesperson for PUK’s politburo said that Saturday’s meeting is a very important one and the course of the day should decide matters not anything else.
“If we want that crucial meeting to have good results we shouldn’t give it any time line.” said Jundiani.
Jundiani said that about the outcome of the talks he is neither optimistic nor otherwise.
“I only hope they will bring good results.” he said.
Although it will be only high-ranking members of the five parties that will be meeting on Saturday, the main advocates for the resumption of talks have been the heads of the parties.
In a statement last month, president of the Kurdistan region Massound Barzani urged the authorities and the opposition to hurry in coming back to the negotiating table in order to solve the current political stalemate.
“I ask all parties to act based on their national and historic responsibilities and turn a new page to help reach a lasting solution for our problems,” said Barzani last month.
Jalal Talabani, the secretary general of the PUK and the current president of Iraq is back in Kurdistan to attend his party’s 36th anniversary. He is also anticipating Saturday’s meeting.
In a speech on his party’s anniversary Talabani used a very soft tone to address members of the opposition, mainly the Gorran movement which originally split from the PUK itself. He described them as “our old friends”
“I ask our old friends who are now a wing of the opposition to take a look at their own past and present,” said Talabani. “Your achievements and that of people all lie in the past. Without the help of the PUK and KDP any progress or change will be impossible. That’s why I urge you to answer our call that we want to conciliate.”