SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — High-level negotiations between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by KDP Deputy Leader Masrour Barzani and PUK President Bafel Talabani on Monday, ended without progress, Zoom News has learned.
Held in Sulaimani’s Dukan district, the meeting — attended by both negotiating and technical teams — was described as “not positive,” with no agreement reached on key issues.
Sources revealed to Zoom News that the PUK pushed for the classification of government posts into sovereign ministries, service ministries, and government agencies, in a bid to secure a greater share in the 10th Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cabinet— a proposal firmly rejected by the KDP.
The KDP stressed that sovereign ministries belong to them based on electoral results and entitlements.
With no statement issued after the meeting, the KDP delegation returned to Erbil, while the PUK team headed back to Sulaimani.
The Dukan meeting marked the third face-to-face discussion between Masrour Barzani and Bafel Talabani on forming the new KRG cabinet, following two earlier meetings in Erbil; however, all talks have so far failed to produce a mechanism for power sharing.
According to Zoom News sources, the two sides are expected to meet again soon to discuss the detailed mechanism for distributing government posts.
Over six months after the October 20 Kurdistan parliamentary elections, the KDP, which won 39 seats, and the PUK, with 24 seats, have yet to reach an agreement on forming the 10th KRG cabinet.