clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Iraq MP: A Gulf state seeks to reinstate Masoud Barzani

January 30, 2018 at 9:17 am

President of Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (IKRG) Masoud Barzani speaks during a meeting 6 September, 2017 [Yunus Keleş/Anadolu Agency]

A Gulf state is working to reinstate former Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, the New Khaleej reported a member of parliament close to Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al-Abadi saying yesterday.

MP of State of Law Coalition Jasim Mohamed Jaafar Al-Bayati said that this state had allocated large sums of money to return Barzani to the political arena.

“Political powers and parliamentary blocs are involved in this project,” he said, “and the aim is to persuade the Kurds, Sunnis and Shias to form the biggest parliamentary bloc after the elections in order to be tasked to form the government in return for giving Kirkuk and other disputed areas to Barzani.”

Iraqi elections are expected to take place on 12 May, but this date was rejected by several Iraqi political sides, including the Sunni blocs who are calling for the return of two million displaced persons to their homes before elections are held.

Read: Iraq votes to lift sanctions on Kurdistan region banks

On 17 September 2017, the Saudi State Minister for the Gulf Affairs Thamer Al-Sabhan visited Iraqi Kurdistan and met with Barzani. He proposed Saudi mediation between the Kurdish region and the Central Government in Baghdad.

Al-Sabhan hailed the Kurdish people and the Peshmerga as well as reiterating the continuous friendship between Saudi Arabia and Kurdistan.