



ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The secretary of the Kurdistan parliament has presented his resignation from his post, as well as his membership in the parliament citing a weakened role for the legislature for the last two years.





Fakhradin Qadir, from the Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), held a press conference alongside members of his parliamentary faction, and a number of the parliamentary faction of Gorran or Change Movement.





He said that he is proud of what he and the parliament achieved while the legislature was active between 2013 until it was suspended in October 2015, as they were able to monitor and question the governmental officials.





He said though that the officials in the government “were strangers” to to an active parliament, and therefore suspended the parliament until recently.





“For now, I do not see a light at the end f the tunnel,” Qadir said, as he offered his resignation.





The Kurdistan parliament held its first session in about two years on September 15, while boycotted by both Gorran and Komal. It approved the bill to call for the Kurdish independence referendum, plus elected Begard Talabani, from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), as an interim parliament secretary.





The parliament is in session today to reject a list of measures made by the Iraqi government and parliament that mainly calls to deploy Iraqi forces to the disputed or Kurdistani areas such as Kirkuk, take control over Kurdistan’s land and air entry points, demand the foreign missions present in Erbil and Sulaimani to leave the Kurdistan Region, and bring charges against Kurdish officials who helped organize the Kurdish vote.





Bestun Fayaq, from Gorran, told Rudaw that their faction will not take part in the session.





Marwan Galalai, from Komal, said while it is likely they boycott the session, they may hold a press conference in which they condemn the measures taken by Iraq against the people of Kurdistan.





The first of a series of measures imposed by Iraq against Erbil came in force on Friday when the Iraqi authorities cut Kurdistan’s air connection to the rest of the world for an unlimited time. Erbil International Airport, one of the two airports in Kurdistan, however stated on its website that the ban will be in place until the end of the year.





The Kurdish parliament has been suspended for two years since October 2015, mainly because of tensions between Gorran and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), a disagreement that came about in particular because of the term of President Masoud Barzani, from the KDP, who has stayed in power beyond his term since 2015.