ERBIL, Iraq, June 13 (UPI) -- The two main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq agreed to merge their administrations to boost the Kurdish role and presence in post-war Iraq, a source says.
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Jalal Talabani and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masud Barzani held meetings Thursday and Friday in the resort of Dukan in northern Iraq where they agreed to merge their administrations based in Erbil and Suleimaniyah.
The two parties. which have shared control of Iraq's Kurdistan since the 1991 Gulf War, said the move was aimed at closing ranks and reinforcing the Kurds' position in running post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.
PUK official Fouad Maasoum told UPI Friday the agreement was in response to the aspirations of the Kurdish people and their friends.
Maasoum said talks covered all issues of interest for the Kurds as well as ongoing negotiations with the U.S. administrators in Baghdad. The agreement constituted the second major step towards unifying the two Kurdish administrations within the framework of the U.S.-sponsored peace accord signed by Talabani and Barzani in Washington in 1998.
