President Barzani receives UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq

President Masoud Barzani received today in Salahaddin Ms Jenine Plaschardt, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq.

During the meeting views were  exchanged on the political situation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and the Kurdistan Region’s parliamentary elections. Ms. Plaschardt, while referring to the role of President Barzani and the KDP in the political process in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, said that she is aware that the KDP  has been ready to hold elections on time for the past two years and added that they understand the concerns of the KDP but stressed the need for the KDP to participate in the elections and said that holding the elections without the KDP would be a difficult process.

For his part, President Barzani explained the reasons for the KDP's position, saying that the Federal Court has replaced the legislature and its decisions are political and not in a way that respects the status of the Kurdistan Region. President Barzani also said that depriving the components of their representation will cause great damage to the coexistence that the Kurdistan people have struggled for for decades. The rights of the components must be respected because they are different nations and must feel their presence in Kurdistan. A parliament without other nations will be imbalanced and incomplete. President Barzani stressed the need to hold elections that reflect the will of the Kurdistan people, be free and transparent, and free from external interference and pre-design of the results.

In the same meeting, President Barzani pointed out that the KDP was the founder of legitimacy and elections in the region and he himself said in 1991 in Koya that they should move from revolutionary legitimacy to legal legitimacy. President Barzani also highlighted the situation in Iraq and stressed that the agreements are being violated in Iraq, saying that they had an agreement with the political parties to form the new Iraqi government when the State Administration coalition was formed, but none of the points of the agreement have been implemented yet. However, in Baghdad, they have unconstitutionally interfered in the lives of the Kurdistan people and used their salaries as a weapon to destabilize the region and subjugate  the Kurdistan people.

President Barzani said that the technical problems should be resolved in order to hold a fair and transparent election under the supervision of the international community. 

In another part of the meeting, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq told President Barzani that she had mentioned the salary issue in her report to the Security Council and there should be no differentiation between the employees of the Kurdistan Region and the rest of Iraq abd tries to discuss the issue of salaries and financial entitlements of The Kurdistan people with the Iraqi government. She also suggested that a UN team should assist in resolving the technical problems that the KDP  has comments on.

The two sides stressed that the problems facing the elections should be resolved to protect the democratic process and stability in the region.