SULAIMANIYAH, 8 May 2006 — Kurdistan’s Parliament yesterday formally unified the Kurdish region’s two long-standing administrations, a step expected to consolidate and strengthen the Kurds’ push for power.

Unification of the two regional government, one headed by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the other by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, was unanimously approved by the 105-member Parliament in Irbil. The step created a joint 32-member Cabinet.

Kurds have enjoyed self-rule in three provinces of the north but under the separate administrations. The Parliament move yesterday marks the final step in a plan for unification, which gathered steam following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s rule in 2003.

Kurdistan’s president, Massoud Barzani, in the session of Parliament attended by the US Ambassador to Iraq, said the unification of the two governments will help the Iraqi central government in its bid to realize political stability and security.

“The new government of Kurdistan is not only for the Kurds, but for the other sects and ethnic groups such as the Christians and Turkomen,” said Barzani, who heads the KDP.

The unification of the two regional governments in the oil-rich north will likely give the Kurds more leverage in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq — particularly in the Sunni Arab dominated central region — where distrust of them runs rampant.

Sunni Arabs fear that Kurds are pushing for secession under the nation’s new federal system, a step which, if imitated by the Shiite majority in the oil-rich south, would leave Sunnis with little more than date groves and sand.

Under the newly approved Cabinet, the PUK will receive 14 portfolios, including the interior and the peshmerga (the Defense Ministry), while the KDP will hold 13, including post of prime minister as well as the justice and finance ministries.

The Kurdish Islamic Party has two posts, the Jama’a Islamiya, or Islamic Group, 1; and one each for Christian and Turkoman independents.

Iraqi Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi assured lawmakers that the new national unity government would take up the thorny issue of whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk will again be considered part of Kurdistan. “The governorate borders, the displacing of people, all these issues will be dealt with... and a solution proposed before the end of 2007.”

Kirkuk has traditionally been a predominantly Turkoman and Kurdish city, but Saddam moved thousands of Arabs to the area and displaced others to cement his grip on power in the north. Since then, Sunni Arabs have been the majority.

Abdul-Mehdi also stressed that Kurds can be assured of top government posts in the new government “as a gesture for the unity of all Iraqis.”

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad reiterated the United States’ continuing support for the rebuilding of Iraq and congratulated the lawmakers, saying that “it is important to remember the past that has been suffered. The people of Iraq and the people of Kurdistan, in particular, have suffered a great deal to get to this day.”