SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq: Iraqi Kurdistan’s leader Masoud Barzani will not extend his presidential term beyond Nov. 1, a Kurdish government official said on Saturday.
A plan to divide up the president’s powers was outlined in a letter Barzani sent to the Kurdish Parliament on Saturday, which it will discuss on Sunday, the official said.
Parliament said it will meet on Sunday to redistribute the powers of Barzani.
On Tuesday, Parliament decided to freeze the activities of Barzani, his Vice President Kosrat Rasul and the head of the presidential Cabinet, Fuad Hussein.
Barzani came under growing opposition from his detractors after he organized the Sept. 25 referendum on Kurdish independence that triggered a deep crisis with Baghdad.
The federal government opposed the vote which it deemed unconstitutional, and its forces have since seized a swathe of disputed territory from Kurdish fighters.
Iraqi Kurdistan’s main opposition party, the Goran movement, called on Barzani to step down after the loss of Kurdish-controlled territory.
Kurdish MP Iden Maarouf said Parliament will meet on Sunday to see how best to “redistribute the president’s powers” among the legislative, executive and judicial authorities.
Earlier, Iraqi and Kurdish commanders made “progress” in talks on Kurdish fighters withdrawing from disputed areas, Iraq’s chief of staff said hours before a truce in clashes over a key border post was due to expire.
But Gen. Othman Al-Ghanimi told reporters after the talks in central Nineveh province that there are “sticking points” that still need to be resolved.
“We have reached an agreement on some points,” he said, adding that the Iraqi side is still waiting to hear from the Kurds on a number of other issues.
“There has been progress, but the definitive solution is in the hands of the other (Kurdish) delegation. They must return to Kurdistan for consultation and give us their answer,” Al-Ghanimi said. “We will remain in touch by phone,” he added.
(Iraqi Prime Minister Haider) Al-Abadi’s spokesman earlier Saturday told AFP that a “joint technical committee” comprising Iraqi and Kurdish delegates was meeting to find a solution to the standoff at the border post.
“The main task of this joint technical committee is to allow the deployment without violence of federal forces along the borders,” Saad Al-Hadithi said.
“Commanders of the federal forces and of the Peshmerga are meeting to allow for this redeployment in a peaceful and humane fashion,” he said.
The aim of the talks was to negotiate the return to a 2003 “blue line” restricting autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan to the three northern provinces of Irbil, Dohuk and Sulaimaniyah, said Al-Hadithi.
A Kurdish official said the US-led coalition pushed them toward negotiations.
Iraqi Kurdistan leader Barzani to step down, parliament to redistribute his powers
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