Kurdish delegation to visit Baghdad to discuss secession following settlement talks
84% of Kurdish people support Independence according to a survey.
Ashwaq al-Jaff, an Iraq parliament member from the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said Kurdish political players have agreed to form a delegation to visit Baghdad for discussions over the region’s long-demanded independence besides a set of other hanging issues.
The delegation is planned to comprise all Kurdish political movements, including the Movement for Change, the region’s largest opposition party.
Kurdistan gained autonomous governance based on the 2005 constitution, but is still considered a part of Iraq. The region was created in 1970 based on an agreement with the Iraqi government, ending years of fierce fighting.
Al-Jaff revealed that the issue was discussed during a visit to Erbil by Ammar al-Hakim, a Shia cleric leading Iraq’s largest political coalition- the National Iraqi Alliance. Hakim led an alliance delegation on Sunday during a visit to Erbil to discuss a national settlement he championed for post-Islamic State Iraq. The Kurdish side of the talks had voiced opposition to a provision in Hakim’s document which bars secession from Iraq under any circumstances.
Hakim arrived Monday to the Iraqi province of Sulaymaniyah to discuss his project with Kurdish opposition parties.