Kurdistan Democratic Party Says No Longer Boycotting Iraqi Kurdistan Elections

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (R), Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) and Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo)
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (R), Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) and Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo)
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Kurdistan Democratic Party Says No Longer Boycotting Iraqi Kurdistan Elections

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (R), Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) and Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo)
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (R), Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (C) and Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo)

The Kurdistan Democratic Party, headed by Masoud Barzani, announced that it was no longer going to boycott the Iraqi Kurdistan Region parliamentary elections.

The boycott was prompted by objections to the mechanisms related to how to hold the elections.

A KDP official said the party would be taking part in the polls given the changes that have been introduced to the mechanism.

The elections were set for June 10.

The KDP announced the boycott in protest against the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq’s ruling related to the elections, such as eliminating the quota allotted to minorities in the Kurdistan parliament.

The court has since gone back on the ruling.

KDP MP Ekhlas al-Dulaimy told Asharq Al-Awsat that the boycott was sparked by the court rulings and now that some changes have been made, the party will participate in the elections.

She revealed that Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani will issue within two days a decree to set a new date for the elections.

She stressed that the KDP was never against holding the elections or their timing. It had twice called for holding them, however, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan had demanded that they be postponed.

Nechervan Barzani had visited Baghdad following what was described as a successful visit to Iran last month.

In Baghdad, he attended meetings for the State Administration Coalition that backs the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited Baghdad last week where he met the majority of political and partisan leaderships. He also held talks with Iraqi President Abdul Latif al-Rashid, Sudani and acting parliament Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi.



Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Meets HTS Leader in Damascus

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
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Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Meets HTS Leader in Damascus

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the Ministry headquarters in the Turkish capital Ankara Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP)

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, Türkiye’s foreign ministry said, without providing further details.

Photographs and footage shared by the ministry showed Fidan and Sharaa, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, which led the operation to topple Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, walking ahead of a crowded delegation before posing for photographs.

The two are also seen shaking hands, hugging, and smiling.

On Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Türkiye would help Syria's new administration form a state structure and draft a new constitution, adding Fidan would head to Damascus to discuss this new structure, without providing a date.

Ibrahim Kalin, the head of Türkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, also visited Damascus on Dec. 12, four days after Assad's fall.

Ankara had for years backed opposition fighters looking to oust Assad and welcomed the end of his family's brutal five-decade rule after a 13-year civil war. Türkiye also hosts millions of Syrian migrants it hopes will start returning home after Assad's fall, and has vowed to help rebuild Syria.

Fidan's visit comes amid fighting in northeast Syria between Türkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the Kurdish YPG militia, which spearheads the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast and Ankara regards as a terrorist organization.

Earlier, Türkiye’s defense minister said Ankara believed that Syria's new leadership, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in the northeast.

Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the Kurdish faction in northern Syria and controls swathes of Syrian territory along the border, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halts support for the Kurdish fighters.

The SDF has been on the back foot since Assad's fall, with the threat of advances from Ankara and Türkiye-backed groups as it looks to preserve political gains made in the last 13 years, and with Syria's new rulers being friendly to Ankara.