Ranj Talabany

#PUK meetings ends with no final decision on deal with #KDP. Both sides to meet tomorrow. PUK asking for much more authority over revenue & energy in Sulaymaniyah province. Security, revenue & energy are PUK priorities not posts in #KRG.

#PUK to meet today at 18:00 to discuss latest #KDP offer on #KRG formation, which is a much closer to what PUK has been asking for. If PUK agrees, then PUK will meet with KDP tomorrow to finalize the agreement. There will be 2 Vice Presidents & only 1 deputy prime minister.

#KDP has agreed to majority of #PUK demands. Last few details to be ironed out tomorrow.

#PUK & #KDP nearing a deal on #KRG formation. Last minute talks happening behind the scenes between the real decision makers. Good chance deal will be struck by Saturday.

4 of the 6 main political parties in #KRG will not participate in the KRG Parliament to revise the Presidency law. Only #KDP & #Gorran will participate as of now, with the #PUK, #NewGeneration, #IGK & #IUK all planning to boycott Parliament.

Former Iraqi PN Nouri Maliki & former Speaker of the Council of Representatives Salim Jabouri could be announced as 1st & 2nd Iraqi Vice Presidents very soon.

#KDP demands to Baghdad to hand over all the oil to Iraq is that Iraq takes on all of the #KRG debts & not change the current product sharing contracts with the international oil companies. Baghdad is currently sending KRG monthly money without receiving any oil from KRG.

#KDP & #PUK meeting didn’t go well. Two sides very far from one another. Very unlikely any agreement will be agreed upon anytime soon. Many leadership members in PUK calling for implementation of alternative plans for #KRG.

According to a parliamentarian from @HaiderAlAbadi Nasr bloc, @masoud_barzani agreed to return Iraqi forces to 2014 positions in return for a payment of $400m for #KRG under US supervision prior to the failed referendum. This $400m is not recorded in KRG financial records.

#PUK leadership member Arez Abdullah: “#KRG is heading towards 2 administrations or a provincial system where each of the 3 provinces runs its own affairs unless #KDP & PUK can reach a deal, and for this to happen KDP needs to compromise, if not then end result is clear.”

Make or break talks between #PUK & #KDP set for 24th March. KDP has softened stance & willing to give more positions to PUK. PUK asking for powers to be formally given to PUK deputies, not to be decided later prior to joining #KRG, as well as transparency in revenue.

If no deal is made, PUK will not be a part of the KRG nor will PUK become an opposition party. KDP understands this clearly, PUK has been asking for its rightful role in the KRG, nothing more. Up to KDP how they take KRG forward from here onwards.

No progress made in latest #PUK & #KDP talks on #KRG formation. PUK message has been clear since beginning. As the second largest party, PUK demands Vice President, along with 2/4 of the Kurdistan Regional Security Council, Interior, Relations & Natural Resources ministries.

Gorran should carefully think about how they go ahead from here onwards as the little support they have left is based in Sulaymaniyah & a KRG without PUK will be very difficult to govern especially in Sulaymaniyah region.

Apart from #PUK, looks like #IUK, #IGK & New Generation will not be participating in next #KRG. #KDP & #Gorran free to push ahead with KRG formation. PUK welcomes stance of several parties also not willing to participate in a KDP dominated KRG.

KDP would be wise to think things through clearly before pushing ahead without real PUK partnership in next KRG. The clock is ticking & many within PUK, along with a lot of the local population, are calling for separation from Erbil, and those voices are only getting louder.

Before the KRG was unified, Sulaymaniyah enjoyed a great deal of autonomy, saw lots of development & the local government was free to govern the region. Now the resources are sent to Erbil, KDP decides how they are spent & has created a huge, problematic bureaucratic process.

Large majority of population of Sulaymaniyah region have been fed up for a long time with #KRG. People see how the regions resources have been plundered & see the massive developments in #Erbil, as well as seeing the lack of development in #Sulaymaniyah area. Blame is with KRG.