Barzani: Iraqi leaders to meet end of February

Massoud Barzani, the President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, announced that leaders of Iraq's main political parties and groups would hold a broad meeting in this northern city in the end of this month to discuss various contentious issues prevailing on the local political arena. Barzani, in an official statement posted on website of the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region, on Sunday, affirmed that the top leaders would hold the meeting "to discuss the domestic (political) atmosphere and examine necessary steps that should be taken" to tackle various problems. The Kurdish leader, who was speaking during a meeting with a visiting delegation of diplomats of European Union member states, affirmed that he was supportive of holding free elections, to be preceded by a nationwide census. For her part, Jana Hybashkova, EU Ambassador to Iraq, expressed deep concern at the current situation in the country, noting that the 27-state union "would not be aligned with any (Iraqi) party that fails to respect the constitution and agreements." She added that the European states were committed to offering all possible support for resolving "problems that face the political process and obstruct establishment of democracy according to the constitution and endorsed agreements bounding political forces of the country." The country is currently witnessing high tension, with public protests in the regions of Al-Anbar, Mosul, and Diala against policies of the government of Nouri Al-Maliki and disagreements between the central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish leadership. There have been other issues feeding tensions, such as destiny of the vice president, Tarik Al-Hashemi, who has been in exile after the government issued an arrest warrant against him on terrorism charges, and expansion of the government authority to Kurdish regions, among others.