(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) IRBIL, Oct 28 (KUNA) -- The Kurdistan Region's parliament will convene on Sunday to discuss an important statement from President Masoud Barzani, amid expectations that the embattled leader would announce his intention to step aside after the end of his term on November 1.
In a press statement, the parliament's deputy speaker, Jaafar Ibrahim, announced that President Barzani sent a statement to the parliament on Saturday and it would be read out during the meeting on Sunday, without giving further information about its content.
It is widely expected that Barzani would ask the parliament not to extend his term in office beyond November 1 and inform it that he would not seek a new term.
Barzani's advisor Hemin Hawrami stated that even after his term ends, Barzani would remain actively and strongly engaged in Kurdistan's politics and would remain as a national reference for Kurdish people.
A Kurdish lawmaker told KUNA, on condition of anonymity, that the parliament is expected to debate the presidency law to decide to either abolish the presidency post or at least to freeze the post temporarily.
The Kurdistan National Assembly elected Barzani President of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq in June 2005. He was elected for a second term in office in 2009 and when his second term finished, the Kurdistan parliament extended it for two years due to the threat of then emerging of the so-called Islamic State group.
Last month, he led his autonomous region to a confrontation with the federal Iraqi government after holding an independence referendum in which nearly 93 percent of the Kurds voted in favor; a move that prompted the federal government to send military forces to seize control of the disputed areas with the Kurdistan province.
Barzani was born on the day that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) was founded, August 16, 1946.
At the time of his birth, his father; Mustafa, was head of the military of the short-lived Kurdish Republic of Mahabad that was declared in Kurdistan in Iran. When the Republic fell, Mustafa fled to the USSR and Masoud returned to his town Barzan in northern Iraq.
In 1958, the father and son reunited after the overthrow of the Monarchy. But in 1961, they led a military struggle against the central Iraqi government.
In March 1970, he took part in the Kurdish delegation that signed an autonomy agreement with Baghdad. The agreement was later cancelled and fighting resumed.
After the death of Mustafa Barzani in March 1979, Masoud was elected as the new president of the KDP at the party's 9th congress. Since then he has been re-elected as the KDP's president in each successive congress.
He is married with eight children. He speaks Arabic and Persian and has an understanding of English. (end) sbr.ibi
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