The political map in
Kurdistan continues to be in flux. President Barzani’s refusal to step down
after his term ended and his subsequent crackdown on the Gorran party led it to
re-unite with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Gorran was originally a
breakaway faction from the PUK calling for reform in the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG). At the same time the PUK continues to face internal divisions
since Jalal Talabani is out of the picture due to his health problems. So far,
there have been no real changes in Kurdistan yet, but things have transformed
in Baghdad.
In May 2016 the PUK
and Gorran created a new alliance. The two signed a 33 point agreement. That included demands for the KRG parliament to
reconvene with no preconditions and to allow all parties to participate. The
two also agreed to cooperate in the KRG parliament and provincial councils and
to run together in the next elections. The two re-united due to President
Barzani. On August 20 his term ended, but he remained in power. Gorran demanded
political reforms in the KRG in return for acquiescing to his presidency.
Barzani responded by stopping the speaker of parliament, who was from Gorran, from
entering Irbil, and then dismissing the four Gorran ministers from the KRG
cabinet. The regional parliament has not met since then. That gave the PUK and
Gorran common cause as the latter was being shut out, and the former was afraid
of being eclipsed by Barzani and his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). To
counter Barzani’s assertion of power, the two decided to work together to
counter him.
The first test of
the new relationship, swapping the governorship of Sulaymaniya, proved rocky.
As part of the new alliance the PUK agreed to give up the governorship to Gorran. The PUK didn't do so at first,
and several meetings had to take place before it finally happened. In the
process 5 PUK council members resigned in protest, only to rejoin the party
later on. At the end of August, the council finally agreed on the change. This was a huge symbolic
move as the PUK had run the province since 1992. It wasn’t as smooth a
transition as the two had hoped, but it did happen.
A month later
however, the PUK faced an internal crisis. Two top party leaders Barham Salah
and Kosrat Rasul created their own
group called a “decision making body” in the press, and demanded more democratic
processes within the PUK. Talabani’s wife, Hero Ibrahim and other party
officials attacked their decision. Since Talabani fell ill several years ago
there has been more factionalism within the PUK. Salah and Rasul have pushed
for structural changes, while Hero and her allies want to maintain the status
quo. This crisis came to overshadow the new alliance with Gorran, and nothing
has really changed in the KRG partly as a result.
Where there was a
decisive transformation was in Baghdad. Since 2003 the Kurdish parties have
acted as a united front. In September that changed as Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari from the KDP was voted
out in a no confidence vote over corruption charges. Surprisingly many PUK and
Gorran parliamentarians joined in his dismissal. At the start of the month, the
PUK’s Alaa Talabani announced that the two would be working as a new coalition in parliament. The
fact that their first act was against a fellow Kurd showed that they were
serious about cooperating and taking on the KDP.
What the PUK and
Gorran need to do now is push their agenda in the KRG. They will face an uphill
battle as Barzani has shown no willingness to compromise with Gorran, and only
put out feelers to the PUK. Gorran was originally created as a reformist party,
but it failed at achieving any of its agenda working within the system. Now it
has an opportunity to finally push through more democratic measures in
Kurdistan with its new coalition with the PUK. The question is how much they can
really accomplish without simply becoming part of the establishment, and how
much they can do in Iraq’s parliament as well. For the PUK the party hopes to
regain some of its lost status and relevance. It has to overcome its continued
internal problems to fully realize this opportunity. These developments mean
that Kurdish politics will certainly be interesting in the coming months.
SOURCES
AIN, “The formation
of a coalition featuring a unified Kurdish Patriotic Union and Change,” 9/10/16
Bas News, “Five PUK
Officials Resign After the Brawl in Sulaymaniyah Provincial Council,” 8/25/16
- “Iran to Mediate
Between the Conflicting Factions of PUK,” 9/2/16
- “New
‘Decision-making Body’ Deepens Rifts in PUK,” 9/2/16
eKurd, “Disputes in
Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimani over governor post,” 8/22/16
- “Hero bloc says no
changes to PUK party while Jalal Talabani lives,” 9/2/16
- “Iraqi Kurdistan
News in brief – August 26, 2016,” 8/26/16
- “Iraqi Kurdistan
News in brief – August 28, 2016,” 8/28/16
- “Iraqi Kurdistan’s
two largest parties signed a deal ahead of upcoming elections,” 5/15/16
Malazada, Ibrahim,
“Political accusations fly in Iraq’s Kurdistan region,” Al Monitor, 9/14/16
Mufid, Arian, “How
The Gorran Movement Feel Out Of Love With Change,” Kurdistan Tribune, 5/30/16
NINA “The Two Wings
Of PUK Confirm The Importance Of Resolving Their Differences Under The Umbrella
Of PUK,” 9/27/16
Qader, Histyar, “Dismissal Of Iraqi Finance Minister Shows How Deeply
Kurdish MPs Divided,” Niqash, 9/29/16
- “The Governor’s
New Clothes: Iraqi Kurdistan’s Historic Power Sharing Deal – Or Is It?” Niqash,
8/30/16
Salih, Mohammed,
“How new alliance among Iraq’s Kurds might actually deepen divisions,” Al
Monitor, 7/5/16
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