ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Sunday stressed the importance of preserving the Kurdistan Region's sovereignty and called on residents to stand against attempts to divide it.

“We will not hold back on anything to protect the sovereignty of the Kurdistan Region and prevent its division,” Barzani said during the launch ceremony of the second phase of Erbil’s major Green Belt Project.

“My request to the people of Kurdistan is this, and I am certain that every loyal and patriotic Kurd and Kurdistani will stand against any attempt to divide the Kurdistan Region,” he added.

The remarks come after relations between the Kurdistan Region’s two main parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), significantly deteriorated after PUK leader Bafel Talabani announced the party’s withdrawal from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Talabani further revealed plans for the establishment of a potential separate government.

“With all our efforts and strength, and with the support of God and the loyal and patriotic people of Kurdistan, we will confront any attempt to divide or weaken the Kurdistan Region,” Barzani said.

The premier asserted that efforts to divide the Region aim to “weaken” it and “further divide our country.”

Tensions rose after the Kurdistan Region parliament reconvened earlier this month following a two-year hiatus, with 52 lawmakers attending the session and electing the parliament's presidency.

Despite the PUK and several opposition parties boycotting the session, quorum was met thanks to the attendance of several MPs from the PUK and opposition blocs in defiance of their party lines.

Top leaders within the KDP, including President Masoud Barzani and the Region’s prime minister, have repeatedly stressed that the parliament’s reactivation is not directed at any party or political force, with President Barzani and the Kurdistan parliament presidency officially calling on the PUK to return to the legislature for the general interest of the Region.

The PUK is the KDP’s main rival, and the two parties have traditionally governed the Region together. They emerged as the two largest parties in the last parliamentary elections. The KDP won 39 seats, while the PUK secured 23.

Khor Mor gas field attack

The Kurdistan Region’s largest gas field was targeted late Sunday. Its operator, UAE-based Dana Gas, said the facility had been hit in a suspected drone attack.

Continuing his speech, the premier condemned the strike on Khor Mor last Sunday, saying that a “malicious hand is once again attempting to terrorize the Kurdistan Region to destroy the necessary infrastructure set for the people of Kurdistan.”

“Attacking Khor Mor and striking the electric infrastructure that produces electricity for the people of Kurdistan is a crime against all of the residents of Kurdistan and Iraq,” Barzani stressed. 

He called on the committee tasked with investigating the strike to expedite efforts to reach a conclusion and to reveal the perpetrators and hold them to account.

“Anything that is needed on our part to help the investigations, we have expressed our readiness, and for this we are in touch with the federal government,” he added, asserting that such an attack must “in no way be tolerated.”

The spokesperson for Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Tuesday said that Baghdad will work alongside Erbil to bring the perpetrators of the recent attack to justice.

Khor Mor has come under repeated attacks, forcing staff evacuations and halting production. During the US-Iran war, numerous drone and missile strikes by Iran and Iraqi pro-Iran armed groups targeted civilian and energy infrastructure across the Kurdistan Region.