Muqtada al-Sadr (far left) is
received in Erbil by a Fuad Hussein (center-right), the chief of staff
to the Kurdish presidency. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A
senior delegation on behalf of the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr
visited the Kurdish capital of Erbil on Saturday morning. The
delegation will meet the Kurdish president and members of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP), Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to engage in
dialogue to help resolve crises in Iraq.
The delegation is headed by Ahmad Sadr, the cleric’s nephew. He told Rudaw that they have visited Kurdistan to open talks with Kurdish officials aimed at ending ongoing crises in Iraq.
The delegation was received by Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff to Kurdish presidency, at Erbil International Airport. They are scheduled to meet President Masoud Barzani on Saturday, and then with members of Barzani’s KDP.
“We have come to Kurdistan to engage in discussion with our brothers to resolve the current crises in Iraq,” Ahmad Sadr told Rudaw after he arrived to the capital.
His delegation is to meet with other Kurdish parties, including the PUK whose stronghold is in Sulaimani, southeast of Erbil.
The delegation’s agenda hasn’t been announced; however, the Kurdish referendum for independence is expected to show up in the talks as the main Kurdish parties have already declared that they intend to hold the referendum in 2017.
Sadr’s Movement has 34 seats in the Iraqi parliament. It is a member of the Shiite National Alliance that also includes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Dawa Party.
Barzani, the KDP and the Sadr Movement are staunchly against any chance that may give Iraq’s former PM Nouri al-Maliki a prominent return to Iraqi politics and governance.
Maliki’s government tried hard to crush the Sadr movement through military operations in 2008, when violence spread to some parts of Iraq, resulting in the imprisonment of some Sadr followers.
Maliki also cut the Kurdistan Region’s share of the Iraqi budget in 2014 when the Kurdish government decided to export oil independently of Baghdad. The Kurdish Region has since suffered from a financial crisis.
The head of the National Alliance, Ammar al-Hakim, seen as a moderate voice among the Iraqi Shiite leaders, announced recently that he is going to resign, calling on its members to choose another leader.
Maliki has since indicated that he is ready to run for the top leadership of the Alliance, a move al-Sadr has said he is strongly against.
Maliki is also the head of the Dawa Party.
The delegation is headed by Ahmad Sadr, the cleric’s nephew. He told Rudaw that they have visited Kurdistan to open talks with Kurdish officials aimed at ending ongoing crises in Iraq.
The delegation was received by Fuad Hussein, the chief of staff to Kurdish presidency, at Erbil International Airport. They are scheduled to meet President Masoud Barzani on Saturday, and then with members of Barzani’s KDP.
“We have come to Kurdistan to engage in discussion with our brothers to resolve the current crises in Iraq,” Ahmad Sadr told Rudaw after he arrived to the capital.
His delegation is to meet with other Kurdish parties, including the PUK whose stronghold is in Sulaimani, southeast of Erbil.
The delegation’s agenda hasn’t been announced; however, the Kurdish referendum for independence is expected to show up in the talks as the main Kurdish parties have already declared that they intend to hold the referendum in 2017.
Sadr’s Movement has 34 seats in the Iraqi parliament. It is a member of the Shiite National Alliance that also includes Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s Dawa Party.
Barzani, the KDP and the Sadr Movement are staunchly against any chance that may give Iraq’s former PM Nouri al-Maliki a prominent return to Iraqi politics and governance.
Maliki’s government tried hard to crush the Sadr movement through military operations in 2008, when violence spread to some parts of Iraq, resulting in the imprisonment of some Sadr followers.
Maliki also cut the Kurdistan Region’s share of the Iraqi budget in 2014 when the Kurdish government decided to export oil independently of Baghdad. The Kurdish Region has since suffered from a financial crisis.
The head of the National Alliance, Ammar al-Hakim, seen as a moderate voice among the Iraqi Shiite leaders, announced recently that he is going to resign, calling on its members to choose another leader.
Maliki has since indicated that he is ready to run for the top leadership of the Alliance, a move al-Sadr has said he is strongly against.
Maliki is also the head of the Dawa Party.
