Kurdish parties participate in Qassem Soleimani memorial in Iraqi Kurdistan
HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Kurdish party officials in Iraqi Kurdistan Region on Sunday participated in a memorial to commemorate Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US airstrike on Friday.
On Friday, US airstrikes killed both Gen. Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Shiite Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi).
Representatives from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Gorran (Change) Movement, the three largest Kurdish parties in Iraqi Kurdistan Region, visited the Iranian Consulate. They were received by Consulate General Nasrollah Rashnoudi.
Gen. Soleimani was a regular visitor to the countries where Iranian influence runs deep, including the Kurdistan Region. Members and officials of Kurdish parties, including Kurdistan Region Representative to Washington Nazim Dabagh, describe Soleimani as a “calm” man who liked the Kurds and wanted good relations with them.
However, for many ordinary Kurds, Soleimani is remembered as a mastermind behind the Iraqi foiling of the Kurdistan Region’s independence bid in 2017.
Iraq’s parliament on Sunday backed a recommendation by the prime minister that all foreign troops should be ordered out, responding to the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military commander and an Iraqi militia leader in Baghdad.
A special session of parliament passed a resolution saying that the Shi’ite-led government, which is close to Iran, should cancel its request for assistance from a U.S.-led coalition.
However, one Sunni Muslim lawmaker said Sunni Arab and Kurdish minorities fear the expulsion of the U.S.-led coalition will leave Iraq vulnerable to an insurgency, undermine security, and further empower its Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias.
Most Sunni and Kurdish lawmakers boycotted the session, and the 168 lawmakers present were just three more than the quorum.
Copyright © 2020, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | rudaw.net | Reuters
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