ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A distance of several weeks between Kurdistan Region’s two main political parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) ended this week when the two met in Erbil to discuss a range of issues, among them reactivation of parliament, relations with Baghdad and the ongoing war with the Islamic State (ISIS).It was reported that the main topic of the meeting was for the PUK to explain its May deal with the Change Movement (Gorran) to the KDP which has viewed the deal between the two with suspicion.But according to Rizgar Ali of the PUK leadership bureau, “that was only one point in the meeting and we talked about reactivating the parliament, the Kurdish-Baghdad relations, the war against ISIS and other issues,”Ali said that his party and the KDP laid on the table all their concerns frankly and agreed to continue the talks.

In May Gorran and the PUK signed a major alliance with much pomp and ceremony in Sulaimani which brought Gorran much closer to the mother party from which it split in 2009.

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The KDP criticized its partner the PUK for leaving it in the dark about such a deal. The KDP and PUK have jointly run the Kurdish government for almost a decade.However, this week’s meeting between the two seems to be reconciliatory efforts, with PUK acting as a go between, especially since its second meeting with the KDP will be after its leaders met with Gorran in their base of Sulaimani.The planned meeting that was the first at the highest level between PUK and Gorran leaderships was held on Tuesday where Hakim Qadir Hamajan, a senior PUK official told Rudaw the core of the discussions “was the unity of the Kurdish house,”The two parties released to the media 7-point statement which they said summarized their meeting: Kurdistan’s territorial integrity, resolving all issues through dialogue and erasing all traces of a two-administration system.A political official from inside the meetings told Rudaw that the PUK delegation was more focused on persuading the KDP to agree to the return of Yousif Muhammad, the suspended speaker of parliament as a starting point to the process of getting parliament back on track.Muhammad and all Gorran ministers were sacked and subsequently left Erbil last October after the KDP said their party was behind public demonstrations in Sulaimani and some other towns that killed several KDP members and torched its offices.In return, said the official, the PUK would talk about all other issues, including the presidential post and that the PUK “is not against holding a referendum for independence if it is organized through parliament,”The KDP has been pushing for a referendum on independence whereby people of the Kurdistan Region will decide if they want to stay part of Iraq or break away and form an independent state.The KDP and PUK signed a strategic alliance in 2007 that led to the formation of several coalition governments as well as unity among their MPs and ministers in Baghdad.Since the last elections parts of the strategic alliance seem to have faded as the two parties entered elections on separate lists and have had disagreements at a provincial level.But the agreement still stands and Mala Bakhtyar, a senior PUK official, said that it could be used to keep the KDP in the know about his party’s policies and plans especially in the wake of the new agreement with Gorran.Mala Bakhtyar admitted that their agreement with Gorran “further complicated the political scene and the PUK should have continued its role as a mediator since it had a strategic alliance with the KDP.”All eyes are now on the PUK and its efforts to bring Gorran back into the fold, but KDP officials have said recently that they are not willing to talk with PUK and Gorran as one delegation and would rather meet them separately.An official told Rudaw that the KDP has complained that the PUK has become a mouth piece for Gorran and that it will not hold tripartite meetings unless Gorran comes forward for a two party meeting with the KDP.