PUK president to convene with party ministerial team

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) President Bafel Talabani will be meeting with his party’s ministerial team on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani met in Erbil, after months of tensions.

The party’s leader will meet with the members of the political party, PUK ministers and other senior government officials to discuss the latest political developments in the Kurdistan Region, Kurdistan 24 has learned from an informed source.

The ministerial team is expected to return to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet meetings, following a six-month boycott of the weekly sessions over financial and administrative issues.

Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, following his meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Talabani on Monday tweeted, “in the spirit of constructive and open dialogue, we discussed issues in the government and agreed on ways to move forward.”

The meeting has been widely welcome by the US, UK, and the Netherlands, hailing the rapprochement as a necessity for Kurdish unity. 

Revenue management and security concerns were among the grievances that caused recent tensions between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the two major components of the current KRG’s ninth cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Barzani. Other political parties, like the Change Movement, also participate in the cabinet.

Both the premier and President Nechirvan Barzani had previously called on the PUK team to return to the cabinet sessions, where they could address their concerns rather than isolating themselves.

Analysts believe a tension-free KDP-PUK relationship could be a source of stability for the Kurdistan Region, whose sixth parliamentary election hinges on the agreement of the major parties.

The parliamentary election is set to be held on November 18, 2023.