Due to the escalation and deepening of the differences between the two ruling parties in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Massoud Barzani and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), a party led by the family of Jalal Talebani, discussions are underway in various circles in the KRG. The KRG is currently facing a severe economic crisis and is even paying the salaries of its employees, especially teachers, with a delay of several months. At the last teachers’ demonstration in Duhok, the governor of the province publicly accused the PUK and its leader, Lahor Sheikh Jangi, of intervening in the demonstration with the aim of weakening the KDP.
Tayyar Khalid, a political activist in the krg and a supporter of the KDP, told the Iranian Kurdistan Human Rights Watch (IKHRW): “The problems and differences between the KDP and the PUK are not new, and it goes back several decades that Jalal Talebani was still a member of the KDP and did not leave it”.
The Kurdish political activist, who is a supporter of reform in the KRG, believes that in order to get rid of the current economic crisis, all individuals and groups in the KRG must support Masrour Barzani’s current government, but blames the PUK for making problems on the way of the KRG programs. “These reforms can be successful if the major parties in the KRG, including the PUKi, have serious cooperation, but we know that not only is it not cooperating, but it is also hindering the expansion and working with Baghdad against the KRG.”
“All of its leaders from Lahor Sheikh Jangi to Bafel Talabani and his father, Jalal Talebani himself, have always been enemies of the Kurds and we have never seen them prefering the interests of the Kurdish people to their party and family interests,” said Mr. Khalid. This family has been and is the enemy of the Kurds from the very beginning, so we cannot expect reforms in their behavior.”
The Kurdish political activist described the PUK goal and program, especially during the new leadership period, as “destroying the achievements of the Kurdish people in the KRG” and called for the conscious responsibility of the KRG’s leaders.
