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Turkmens, Christians get ministerial posts in new Iraqi Kurdistan cabinet: officials

Turkmens Christians get ministerial posts in new Iraqi Kurdistan cabinet officials
Turkmens, Christians get ministerial posts in new Iraqi Kurdistan cabinet: officials

2019-06-23 00:00:00 - Source: Iraq News

Kurdistan Prime Minister-designate Masrour Barzani (L) met with four Christian parties (R) and five Turkmen parties in Erbil, June 22, 2019. Photo: Masrour’s Twitter

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— The Turkmen parliamentary grouping has secured a ministerial position in the new cabinet of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the Turkmen Front said on Saturday.

Head of the Turkmen Front caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament Aydin Maaruf said that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) had assented that the party should take control of a ministry.

“The KDP told us that it wanted the Turkmens to participate in the ninth KRG cabinet and have a representative in the government,” Maruf told NRT.

He added that it has not been determined exactly what ministerial potion they will receive.

Meanwhile the leaders of the Christian minority in Iraqi Kurdistan region have reached an agreement with the leading KDP to be given a ministerial post in the new Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet, said the candidate on Saturday.

Ano Jawhar Abdoka is the candidate that will secure the post of Minister of Transport and Communications.

“We have been assured by Barzani in his meetings that our rights will be secured in the new government cabinet,” Abdoka told K24 TV on Saturday.

Jameel Zaito, head of the Chaldean, Assyrian, and Syriac Council, one of the five Christian parties, said his party is ready to accept any cabinet positions the government assigns to them.

The Christian parties have already submitted the name of two candidates for the new cabinet to the government according to Zaito.

Earlier on Saturday, the Kurdistan Prime Minister-designate Masrour Barzani met with five Turkmen parties and four Christian parties on Saturday, concluding the first round of government formation talks for assembling his upcoming cabinet.

“All the meetings we had today were very good…everyone’s rights [in the next cabinet] will be protected,” Barzani told reporters, following his last meeting of the day.

“We had a positive meeting about the involvement of the Turkmen in the next cabinet. Our KDP friends emphasized that the Turkmen will participate in the new cabinet,” Aidn Maruf, head of the Turkmen Front in the KRG parliament, told Rudaw.

Christian and Turkmen lawmakers in the regional parliament previously told K24 that the two minority groups had reached a deal between themselves, wherein a Turkmen candidate would take the second deputy speaker position in the regional parliament and Christians would get a ministerial post.

In September 2018, Kurdistan Region held its parliamentary election, with parties competing for 111 seats in total. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won the election by securing 45 seats and was followed by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) with 21 seats and Gorran (Change) Movement with 12.

KRG Prime Minister-designate Masrour Barzani was tasked with forming the new government by President Nechirvan Barzani on June 12, 2019 and has only 30 days to do so.

On June 17, the prospective premiere said that an official from the Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party would receive the position of the KRG Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs.

Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | nrttv.com | Kurdistan24.net | rudaw.net

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