Iraqi PM meets with Kurdish delegation in Baghdad

By Ibrahim Saleh

BAGHDAD

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday met with representatives of Kurdish political parties for the first time since September’s illegitimate poll on Kurdish regional independence.

According to an Iraqi government statement, the Kurdish delegation included representatives of the Movement for Democracy and Justice and the Gorran and Komel parties, all of whom had been opposed to the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s ill-fated poll in September.

At Thursday’s meeting in Baghdad, al-Abadi stressed the need to maintain Iraq’s national unity while also ensuring its diverse ethnic and religious fabric.

Members of the Kurdish delegation, for their part, said post-referendum tensions between Baghdad and Erbil (the KRG’s administrative capital) should be resolved within the framework of Iraq’s constitution.

In the immediate wake of the KRG’s illegitimate Sept. 25 poll, federal forces moved into parts of Iraq "disputed" between the central government and the KRG, including the oil-rich Kirkuk province.

Baghdad, meanwhile, continues to demand the annulment of the referendum’s results.

The KRG now hopes to hold talks with the Iraqi government -- under UN auspices and without preconditions -- with a view to resolving their outstanding differences.