Barzani will not participate if national conference held in Baghdad – Kurdish Presidency Divan

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: Head of Kurdish Presidency Divan disclosed today that President Masoud Barzani will not participate in the national conference if it is held in Baghdad. Foad Hussein said, in press statements today, that “the conference should be held in a place where all can attend, but if Baghdad is not the proper venue, Kurdistan welcomes the conference”. Decision was made that the national conference should be held at the end of this month in Baghdad to discuss deputy premier Saleh al-Mutlaq demotion and the suspension of Iraqiya bloc‘s meetings in the Parliament and the Cabinet. Hussein added that “the Kurdish Alliance supports that previous political agreements will be the base for solving present problems”. President Barzani called on 19 December last for an urgent national conference to “avoid the collapse of the political process in the country”, taking into consideration that “the country is moving to extra tensions and the partnership has been threatened”. Iraq is moving into a severe political crisis after accusing vice-president Tariq al-Hashimi with terrorism and issuing an arrest warrant against him, in addition to Premier Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to demote his deputy Saleh al-Mutlaq, who are both leading members in the Iraqiya bloc. Added to all that previous differences on security posts, internal differences between Iraqiya and State of Law blocs for Erbil agreements and charges that Premier Maliki is governing the country unilaterally.