MERI has been holding a number of high level events with leading politicians and opinion-formers in the Kurdistan Region. These have been on a range of topics, however, most recently focus has been on political unity in Kurdistan.
These sessions, conducted under Chatham House Rules, have provided a forum for debate on issues of unity between political parties in the region. The latest meeting brought together leading figures to discuss mechanisms to improve unity between different political factions.
The discussion focused on the importance of having one unified voice, especially on specific policy issues. In depth focus was placed upon the policy towards article 140 disputed areas. Also, the Kurdish position internationally and the message that is delivered to the international community was discussed at length.
The need for the improvement of institutions that pass laws was also identified. All meetings of this format are held under “Chatham House Rules” to facilitate free and open debate on sensitive issues.
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About MERI: The Middle East Research Institute is Iraq’s leading policy-research institute and think tank. It is an independent, entirely grant-funded not-for-profit organisation, based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region. Its mission is to contribute to the process of nation-building, state-building and democratisation via engagement, research, analysis and policy debates.
MERI’s main objectives include promoting and developing human rights, good governance, the rule of law and social and economic prosperity. MERI conduct high impact, high quality research (including purpose-based field work) and has published extensively in areas of: human rights, government reform, international politics, national security, ISIS, refugees, IDPs, minority rights (Christians, Yezidis, Turkmen, Shabaks, Sabi mandeans), Baghdad-Erbil relations, Hashd Al-Shabi, Peshmarga, violence against women, civil society. MERI engages policy- and decision-makers, the civil society and general public via publication, focused group discussions and conferences (MERI Forum)