Iraq’s Kurds set conditions for parliamentary support

BAGHDAD

Iraqi Kurdish parties on Tuesday unveiled conditions for supporting the largest bloc in parliament to form the new government.

On Monday, the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (PUK), Gorran Movement, Kurdistan Islamic Group and Kurdistan Islamic Union formed an alliance with 11 seats in the Iraqi parliament.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Jamal Kojar, a leading member of the alliance and a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, said support for the largest parliamentary bloc is conditional to concluding official agreements to Kurdish demands.

Kojar went on citing the demands as “constitutional entitlements related to article 140, oil, border crossings and salaries of the [Kurdish] Peshmerga forces.”

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution calls for settling the situation in disputed regions between Baghdad and Erbil and giving the population the right to choose to remain under the federal government or join the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Kojar asserted that the Kurdish parties adopted a new approach of having officially announced agreements to bind the other political side to the Kurdish demands.

Baghdad and Erbil been at odds over disputed areas, administrating oil wealth, financing and arming the Peshmerga forces.

Since Iraq’s May 12 parliamentary poll, two rival Shia political currents have competed to draw up a majority bloc in the assembly, which, according to Iraq’s constitution, would have the right to form the next government.

The first current includes the Coalition (led by prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr) and the Victory Bloc (led by Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi).

The second includes the State of Law Coalition (led by Vice President Nouri al-Maliki) and the Fatah Alliance (led by Hadi al-Amiri), the latter of which also includes the Hashd al-Shaabi’s political wing.

Reporting by Ali Jawad: Writing by Mahmoud Barakat