Masrour Barzani: New opportunity to correct political process in Iraq

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – There is an opportunity to correct the political process in Iraq and resolve disputes between Erbil and Baghdad, Masrour Barzani, Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), said on Wednesday.

Barzani’s comment came during a meeting in Erbil with a delegation led by Norway Chargé d’affaires Roar Haugsdal.

In the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations, Erbil-Baghdad disputes, and the current situation in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, the KRSC press office said in a statement.

Barzani praised Norway’s significant military and humanitarian contributions to the Global Coalition against the Islamic State (IS). More specifically, to nearly 1.5 million displaced families in the Kurdistan Region, the statement added.

“They also discussed ways to overcome challenges in stabilization operations and facilitating the safe, orderly, and dignified return of the displaced to their ancestral homes.”

Over the past four years, Kurdistan has become a haven for almost two million refugees and displaced Iraqis, which amounts to about 30 percent of the Region’s population.

Although Iraq declared final victory against the extremist group in December 2017, most of the displaced people in the Kurdistan Region refuse to return to their liberated areas due to insecurity and lack of basic services.

Over the past few months, thousands of displaced people who returned to their hometowns had come back to camps in the Kurdish region, according to the Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC).

Regarding the next Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet, Haugsdal expressed readiness to support government priorities in a way that strengthens cooperation and good governance.

Barzani was recently nominated by the leading Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to become the semi-autonomous region’s next prime minister.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany