Kurdistan presidency says no KDP-PUK row over deputy premier post

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi Kurdistan region’s presidency dismissed that differences broke out between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) over the figure to succeed Burham Saleh who offered his resignation from the post of Iraqi deputy premier, according to the presidency’s web site. “There were reported statements by some mass media regarding differences over the federal deputy premier post but there are no differences between the two sides,” read an Iraqi Kurdistan presidency statement on Saturday. Massoud Saliey, a member of Iraqi Kurdistan region President Massoud Barazani’s KDP politburo, had told Iraqi News that there were no differences with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani’s PUK over the figure to succeed Saleh as Iraqi deputy premier. Saleh had offered his resignation to undertake the formation of a new government lineup in the semi-autonomous region as designated by the Kurdistan parliament. Kurdish sources said the PUK has selected a leading member, Fouad Maasoum, to succeed Saleh on the grounds that the post is reserved for the PUK, not the KDP. The KDP and PUK, the two main Kurdish parties, had participated in the first government and parliament in Kurdistan in 1992 until they were entangled into an eight-year-old infighting in 1994 that caused the Kurdish administration to split before it was reunited in 2006. That infighting has left an unconfirmed number of victims estimated in thousands on either side. AmR (S) 1