KRG Cabinet backs Barzani's call and Urges PUK Ministers To Return
The Council of Ministers backs President Masoud Barzani’s call for dialogue among the parties and tells its Baghdad budget negotiators to continue
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Council of Ministers, chaired by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, said on Wednesday that it welcomes and supports the call by President Masoud Barzani for the political parties to meet and resolve their problems through dialogue, and asked the ministers of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to return to cabinet meetings.
The cabinet said the dialogue is meant to strengthen the political and democratic system and the legitimate and constitutional institutions of the Kurdistan Region.
The cabinet asked “our colleagues” in the PUK’s ministerial team to return to the Council of Ministers’ meetings and continue working in the Kurdistan Regional Government.
It said any observations, remarks or proposals they have should be discussed and resolved within the cabinet’s meetings. The appeal comes after PUK leader Bafel Talabani announced on November 5 that his party was withdrawing from the government and would not recognize the Kurdistan Parliament, a day after the parliament elected its presidency in a session the PUK boycotted.
The statement does not say whether any PUK minister attended Wednesday’s meeting, and Kurdistan 24 could not confirm it.
The ministers also reviewed the latest outcome of the high-level KRG delegation’s visit to Baghdad, headed by Prime Minister Barzani, and its meeting with the federal government’s delegation led by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.
Barzani said he stressed in Baghdad the need to respect Iraq’s federal system and the constitutional entity of the Kurdistan Region, and to deliver the Region’s financial entitlements and its share of the federal budget fairly.
The cabinet instructed the negotiating delegation to continue the 2027 budget talks, building on the understanding and positive atmosphere created by the visit, in order to reach a fundamental, final and fair agreement on securing salaries, financial entitlements and the Region’s budget share.
The cabinet also took up the attack on the Khor Mor gas field.
The electricity minister and the acting natural resources minister presented a report on its consequences, which included the halt in gas production and a cut in the hours of electricity given to citizens.
They described the ministry’s efforts to make up part of the shortfall through power stations that run on heavy fuel oil, diesel, hydropower and flare gas.
The interior minister then briefed ministers on the joint security committee of the federal and Kurdistan governments formed to investigate the attack, and said the investigations continue.
The cabinet condemned the “terrorist attack” in the strongest terms, saying it aims to damage the economic and energy infrastructure of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq and to harm the public interest, and that it must end.