Landmark Kurdish conference in Arbil postponed for second time

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A planned Kurdish National Conference gathering Kurdish figures from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, which had been set to take place in Arbil between Sept. 15 and 17, has been postponed for a second time to Nov. 25.

The postponement is due to local elections in Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sept. 21., the organization committee said in a statement Sept. 3. 

The landmark conference had initially been planned to start on Aug. 24, but was initially postponed to mid-September for “technical reasons.” 

Around 600 delegations and 300 observers were announced to be invited to the conference.

Around 35 percent of the participants are set to be representatives of NGOs and 45 percent from political parties. The rest are to be drawn from youth groups and independent individuals, according to the organization committee.

Fighting has recently increased in the Kurdish-populated areas of Syria between the military wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front. 

The clashes have triggered an exodus of Syrian Kurds across the border to Iraq, and have also enflamed debates on the creation of an autonomic Kurdish region in Syria. 

The planned conference also comes as the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) increases its rhetoric against the government, issuing serious warnings about the fate of the ongoing Kurdish peace process that was launched nine months ago.