A Panel on the Agreement between Patriotic Union and Gorran Movement in KUST
At the evening of June 5th, 2016, with the presence of Komar University President, Dr. Salah Aziz, a panel was held on “The Economic and Political Consequences of the Agreement between Kurdistan Patriotic Union and Gorran Movement” in Komar University. The panelists were; Mr. Farid Asassard, the members of leadership bureau of Patriotic Union, Dr. Shorsh Haji, the spokesman of Gorran Movement, and Dr. Ezzet Sabir, the Head of Economic and Finance committee of Kurdistan Parliament.
The panel discussion focused on two areas, first; the economic and political consequences of the agreement within Sulaimanyah, Kurdistan region and Iraq in general. The second area was related to the content of the agreement.
Mr. Farid Asassard stated “the agreement between Gorran Movement and Patriotic Union has a great role in normalizing the political atmosphere in Sulaimani, and then it can spread it out to a wider circle” also he addressed that “ we have an ineffective political process in Kurdistan Region, this was rooted from unbalanced power distributed among the political parties, so this agreement can return fair power distribution and this can return peace and prosperity to Sulaimanyah and Kurdistan region in general.”
Dr. Shorsh Haji, said “if there will be positive perception from other political parties towards the agreement, it can be enriched with others’ contributions, and it will help our city, our region to compete each other for a better governance instead of competing in creating barriers in front of each other, and in return, this will have impact on our image in front of Iraqi government and parliament”
About the consequences, Dr. Ezzet Sabir, argued that “This agreement is a serious attempt to activate the parliament and government to serve people in Kurdistan fairly” if we do not unite internally how we can ask for our rights from an external body like Iraqi Government, he added. Also he declared to the audience that “this agreement can return business activities to the market if the agreement is being put into practice.”
Related to the second areas which was about the agreement itself, Dr. Shorsh Haji said “this agreement is very transparent, and all together it is 25 points which all focus on serving our region economically and politically, to develop the process of democracy in our government, to have transparency in our financial and economical resources in our region” but also he mentioned that “besides those points there are mechanisms which were set to implement the agreement”
Mr. Farid asassard, emphasized that “what is announced as an agreement between us is what we have, and there are no other agreement unpublished”
Then Dr. Ezzet, were asked about the role of oil in this agreement whether it accelerates its implementation or it become an obstacle, He answered “Oil can have a positive effect on the agreement, because frankly speaking, oil of Suliamanyah district is very good and this part has more oil and gas reserve than other parts of Kurdistan region ”
The last discussion of the panel was a direct question to the three panelists; it was related to decentralization as a method of governance in Kurdistan region. Mr. Asassard stated that decentralization is not good only for sulaimani, it is a modern type of governance and it can benefit all the cities of Kurdistan region, also Dr. Shorsh supported decentralization through an exemplification and said “it does not make any sense when a people from a village in west of Kurdistan has to go to the east just to get his small administrative need in government being done”
But Dr. Ezzet answered with a study and said that “it is proved that each city; Sulaimanyah, Erbil, and Duhok has more revenue than their expenses, so if government make each city decentralized for managing its resources this will solve great administration and financial problems”
After that, the Panel was opened for the audience to address their questions, and they were being answered by all the panelists. The audience also appreciated the great work of Komar University which helps in giving value and encouragement for unity of political fractions in Kurdistan region.
Many politicians, academic figures, governmental officers, KUST Community members and other guests attended the panel, because of the importance of the topic of the panel.
Finally, the President of Komar University, Dr. Salah Aziz awarded each panelist, with a certificate of appreciation for their efforts and contribution.
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