Alwaght- Iraqi Kurdistan region's Gorran party has called on Massoud Barzani ,the President of the autonomous region, to relinquish power and pave the way for forming a “National salvation government.”
The main opposition party of the Kurdistan region issued a statement on Sunday, saying “The Kurdistan presidency must be dissolved and a national salvation government be formed to overcome the current situation”.
Founded in 2009, Gorran, or Change Movement, is the official opposition to the ruling two-party coalition of the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The political party, under the leadership of Omar Said Ali, was one of the Kurdish political parties that were against the last month’s highly controversial independence referendum.
The developments followed weeks of simmering tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over the referendum, held on September 25 in open defiance of the central government in Baghdad.
Following the vote, Baghdad imposed a ban on direct international flights to the Kurdish region and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales.
Last week, Iraq’s judiciary also issued arrest warrants for three senior Kurdish officials, who were allegedly behind the contentious plebiscite, which also faced strong opposition from regional countries, including Iran and Turkey. Iraq's Supreme Court has already ruled the referendum unconstitutional.
Despite all pressures, Kurdish leaders refused to renounce the breakaway vote making Iraqi prime minister to order troops deployment to disputed areas that were occupied by Kurdish militias after ISIS incursion into Iraq in 2014. Following the order, Iraqi army backed bay Popular Mobilization Forces launched last week a multi-fronted operation on the Kurdish-held areas in Kirkuk, Saladin, Diyala provinces and recaptured almost all disputed areas after Kurdish Peshmerga forces withdrew from there.
