Given Turkey’s growing military presence in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), especially in areas controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani, speculation is growing about Turkey’s real goals in Kurdish circles. On the other hand, the KDP, without Baghdad’s permission, has allowed Turkey to establish about 20 military barracks deep in the territory of the KRG, and on the other hand, Turkey is bombing PKK bases in the territory of the KRG. Morethan one thousand villages have been deserted and many villagers have been killed, but the KRG has always been silent. In the latest case of tensions between the KDP and the PKK over the issue, the border between the two parties of the KRG namely the KDP and the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK) erupted in Zine Werte mountain pass, during which several PKK members were killed. The PKK has accused the KDP of coordinating with Turkey to kill these members.
We asked Suleiman Alikhan, a Kurdish journalist from the KRG, about Zine Werte and the tension between the KDP and the PKK on the one hand, and the KDPand PUK on the other.
“First of all, I must say that Turkey is a threat to all Kurds,” Alikhan replied. He added: “But I have to say that what is happening in Zine Werte is an excuse for the KDP to be present and to oppose the PUK. The KDP basically wants to take this region out of the hands of the PUK and not out of the hands of the PKK. It’s needs a weak PUK. “
Due to the history of the KDP and the PUK armed conflicts in the 1990s and the division of the KRG between the yellow and green regions, the distribution of oil money and posts and positions, the KRG is practically divided into two departments and even the PUK region with Sulaimaniyah as its center threatens to establish an independent Region.
“The KRG is not unified. The war between the two factions is for power. What we see shows that there are two administrations, and each region is controlled by a separate party,” Suleiman Alikhan told Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch (IKHRW).
