Iraqi Kurdish opposition party calls on leader Barzani to step down

Iraqi Kurdistan’s main opposition party, Gorran has called for the resignation of local Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and the formation of a “national salvation government” in order to deal with the stand-off between the Kurds and Iraq’s central authorities. Barzan is blamed for the crisis that has followed the loss of the Kurdish province of Kirkuk to Iraqi forces, which advanced in retaliation to last month’s independence referendum. While supporting independence, Gorran was opposed to holding the referendum, considering it ill-timed.