Iraqi parties land in Erbil for government formation talks with Kurds

A senior delegation representing Iraq's Alliance of Reform and Reconstruction arrived in Erbil on Sunday to meet with senior officials in the Kurdistan Region, primarily Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - A senior delegation representing Iraq's Alliance of Reform and Reconstruction arrived in Erbil on Sunday to meet with senior officials in the Kurdistan Region, primarily Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) President Masoud Barzani.

The alliance includes members of top Iraqi parties such as cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Sairoon Coalition, former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's Nasr (Victory) Alliance, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's al-Wataniya, and cleric Ammar al-Hakim's al-Hikma (Wisdom) Movement.

The arrival of the cross Sunni-Shia delegation to Erbil came one day after a visit by one representing militia leader Hadi al-Amiri's al-Fatih Coalition, who also met with Barzani.

The Iraqi parties, which have made initial agreements to form a new government, are trying to persuade the KDP to participate in the new federal government.

Barzani earlier said he objected to the mechanism used for electing the country's president, during which a politician from the main rival Kurdish party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), was chosen. After much negotiation in Baghdad, KDP candidate Fouad Hussein lost out to the PUK's Barham Salih. 

Previously, Iraqi parties asked Barzani to open a "new page" with Baghdad, but the Kurdish leader said that this depends on the commitment to "partnership and consensus."

"Our visit is brotherly," Abdullah al-Zaidi, a member of the Hikma delegation, told Kurdistan 24 at Erbil International Airport.

The delegates will also visit the province of Sulaimani, where the PUK is dominant, to meet its leaders as well.

Editing by John J. Catherine