Turkmen parties push for increased quota in KRI parliament

Shafaq News / Political Turkmen parties demanded an increase in their quota of seats in the Kurdistan Region Parliament on Tuesday. They indicated that they would resort to legal means to increase their share and might seek intervention from neighboring countries to exert pressure on this matter.

A correspondent from Shafaq News Agency reported that "30 representatives from Turkmen political parties in the Kurdistan Region met today, in the presence of five representatives from European consuls and neighboring countries, to discuss the quota system in the regional parliament."

The correspondent added that "the meeting followed a complaint filed with the federal court regarding the cancellation of the quota system."

Monia Qahwaji, former secretary of the parliament in the region, stated in an interview with Shafaq News Agency, "Turkmens are the third ethnic group in Iraq and the second in the Kurdistan Region. Assigning only five seats to us within the quota is unacceptable. We are taking our legal actions and steps, and we are pursuing avenues to defend our rights. We may even ask neighboring countries to intervene to secure our rights."

Turkmen parties in the Kurdistan Region Parliament currently hold five seats. According to this meeting, these parties are striving to increase their allocated seats for the Turkmen component in the region to ten.