KURDISH POLITICAL PARTIES MEET IN ERBIL OVER BAGHDAD MILITARY OPERATION

KURDISH POLITICAL PARTIES MEET IN ERBIL OVER BAGHDAD MILITARY OPERATION.

ERBIL – Kurdish political parties, not including Change Movement (Gorran) and Kurdistan Islamic Group (KIG), announced on Sunday (October 22) their position against possible preconditions for talks with Baghdad.

After their meeting, the Kurdish political parties who numbered around 30, said they held talks over Baghdad’s takeover of disputed territories which occurred as a means against the referendum on Kurdistan independence.

The Kurdistan Region on October 19 said it was open to talks with Baghdad just three days after the advance by the central government forces into areas where the independence referendum was held.

“We won’t accept preconditions for compromise and meeting with Baghdad at any point,” the spokesman for Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Mahmoud Mohammed said during a press conference today.

On 16 and 17 October, federal troops and Hashid al-Shaabi retook the province of Kirkuk and its lucrative oil fields, as well as formerly Kurdish-held areas of Nineveh and Diyala provinces -- all outside the Kurdistan region’s administration.

The 48-hour operation saw the Kurdish region almost entirely returned to its longstanding three-province autonomous region in the north.

 (NRT/AFP)