Iraq's main Kurd parties to enter gov’t talks together

By Idris Okuducu

ERBIL, Kurdistan

The two leading parties in northern Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) -- the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- plan to jointly take part in consultations over Iraq’s incoming government.

Officials from both parties reportedly held a closed-door meeting in Erbil, the KRG’s administrative capital, to discuss the upcoming consultations, which will be conducted in Baghdad.

In a statement posted on the KDP’s official website, KDP spokesman Ali Huseyin said the two Kurdish parties had agreed in principle to attend the upcoming negotiations together.

According to Huseyin, the KDP also wants smaller Kurdish political parties to take part in the talks with a view to forging a unified Kurdish position.

The KDP and the PUK, he said, would inform officials in Baghdad of their decision once results of Iraq's May 12 parliamentary polls -- which are now being subject to a manual recount -- were announced.

On Wednesday, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said Iraqi Kurds should take part in the consultations “with a single voice”.

*Ali Murat Alhas contributed to this story from Ankara