Turkey congratulates newly-elected KRG president

By Mehmet Alaca

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday congratulated Nechirvan Barzani for his election as president of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.

Mevlut Cavusoglu talked to Barzani over the phone, according to diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Northern Iraq’s Kurdish regional parliament on Tuesday elected Barzani president of the KRG.

Barzani clinched the support of 68 out of 81 lawmakers who attended Tuesday’s parliamentary vote.

The KRG presidency has remained vacant since November 2017, when the mandate of then President Masoud Barzani (Nechirvan’s uncle) -- who had been in office since 2005 -- expired.

In the two years since, executive power has been shared by the prime minister and parliamentary speaker.

* Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic