President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region Nechervan Barzani arrived in Tehran on Sunday on a visit described by a source from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework as a “last-ditch effort to postpone elections in the Region and maintain its unity.”
Iranian media said he is expected to meet with President Ebrahim Raisi, parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
The source from the Framework said his visit is part of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) effort to postpone the elections so that it has time to introduce amendments to the Baghdad Federal Supreme Court’s rulings related to the shares of minorities and the body that will oversee the polls, reported the Arab World Press.
Barzani will demand that Tehran pressure their ally, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), headed by Bafel Talabani, to agree on postponing the elections, added the source.
For their part, the Iranians wants to discuss “Israeli organizations that are present in Kurdistan and that are constantly targeting their country’s security.”
They believe that Nechervan Barzani is “approaching them from a weak position, meaning this is a golden opportunity to negotiate with him over the Israeli organizations and Iranian armed groups, which are opposed to Tehran, that are present in Kurdistan,” continued the source.
In return, the Iranians will talk to the PUK to persuade it to postpone the elections, which are set for June 10.
Kurdish Iraqi MP Rezan Sheikh Dler had previously warned that holding the elections on time would effectively lead to the division of Kurdistan into two administrations.
The PUK had declared in March that it would be boycotting the elections in protest against the Federal Supreme Court’s rulings.
Member of the PUK’s leadership council Jabar Yawar told Arab World Press that Kurdistan’s political disputes will be on Nechervan Barzani’s agenda in Tehran.
He will also discuss economic and border security issues with Iranian officials, he added.
“The Iranian have often played in role in resolving disputes between Kurdish parties and between the Kurdish region and federal government” in Baghdad, he remarked.
This is Nechervan Barzani’s fifth visit to Tehran in less than a year.
Electoral campaigns are expected to kick off in Kurdistan later this week.
