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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Relations between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran) have reached an impasse that is hard to break. The parties, which around two years ago were on the brink of merging, are now at loggerheads following Iraq’s May 12 election.
On May 12, the hopes that hinged upon Iraq’s electronic voting system preventing voter fraud appear to have been misplaced. Kurdish and Iraqi parties alleged widespread incidents of rigging. Gorran accused the PUK of “stealing” its votes.
Into the night, Gorran’s main headquarters on the Zargata Hill was attacked by alleged PUK forces, with videos emerging of machine gun-mounted pickup trucks shooting at the party’s buildings.
Lacking an armed defense force of its own, Gorran rallied its local supporters to protect its HQ.
The PUK and Gorran signed a 25-article pact on May 17, 2016 in the presence of the late PUK leader Jalal Talabani and late Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafah. It aroused hopes of an eventual merger between the parties.
On December 2017, Gorran suspended its strategic agreement with the PUK, accusing the party of failing to adhere to its commitments. Whatever hope remained in salvaging the deal appears to be spent.
“We will seriously strive to improve and make better our relations with Gorran especially and other political parties. We view our relations from the viewpoint of national interests. That is why we will try to visit all political parties, especially the Change Movement,” Hakim Qadir Hamajan, executive of the PUK’s Politburo, told Rudaw.
However, Gorran has so far refused to meet PUK officials, despite multiple requests.
Not all Gorran supporters speak so mildly about the incident on Zargata Hill.
“The shaky hand, the one who decided to shoot bullets at Nawshirwan Mustafah’s picture, should be cut off, and dragged behind in front of the main office, at the shooting place. This is a promise, and it will be implemented one day,” Abdullah Kwexa Mubarak, a Gorran leader with his own armed militia, said in a video posted on social media.
“It isn’t up to Kwexa Mubarak to forgive him, and neither the General Coordinator [of Gorran] can forgive him. What I said was that the Gorran movement can’t forgive the crime. Every Gorran supporter is against that, and this won’t be left unattended to,” Mubarak told Rudaw’s Top Story program on May 17.
Until the law holds those responsible to account, Gorran supporters will not stand by and allow the incident to go unpunished, he said.
Dr. Ghalib Mohammed, a Gorran candidate whose believes his votes were stolen by the PUK, says the party could have driven every “corrupt PUK official” from Sulaimani had they wished.
The man thought to be behind the attack on the Gorran HQ, Shiekh Jaffar Shiekh Mustafah, who is the commander of the PUK’s 70th Peshmerga force, hopes the parties can move on from the incident.
“It is old, passed. We hope to turn a new page so that we establish Kurdish unity, fraternity, and tranquility in Iraq, for us to institute the just rights of our nation in the Iraqi parliament,” Sheikh Jaffar said on the same edition of Rudaw’s Top Story.
With Gorran now considering the controversial step of creating its own armed self-defense force, the pact between Gorran and the PUK appears to be dead and buried. Any new militia would likely contribute to the further deterioration of ties. A Gorran armed force would also threaten the PUK’s monopoly on physical force in Sulaimani province, jeopardizing the preeminence it has long enjoyed, and potentially leading to civil war.
The new breakdown in relations comes after an alleged PUK-led attack on Gorran’s Zargata Hill headquarters in Sulaimani just hours after polls closed. Gorran’s National Assembly is contemplating the termination of the loose alliance.
On May 12, the hopes that hinged upon Iraq’s electronic voting system preventing voter fraud appear to have been misplaced. Kurdish and Iraqi parties alleged widespread incidents of rigging. Gorran accused the PUK of “stealing” its votes.
Into the night, Gorran’s main headquarters on the Zargata Hill was attacked by alleged PUK forces, with videos emerging of machine gun-mounted pickup trucks shooting at the party’s buildings.
Lacking an armed defense force of its own, Gorran rallied its local supporters to protect its HQ.
The PUK and Gorran signed a 25-article pact on May 17, 2016 in the presence of the late PUK leader Jalal Talabani and late Gorran leader Nawshirwan Mustafah. It aroused hopes of an eventual merger between the parties.
On December 2017, Gorran suspended its strategic agreement with the PUK, accusing the party of failing to adhere to its commitments. Whatever hope remained in salvaging the deal appears to be spent.
“We will seriously strive to improve and make better our relations with Gorran especially and other political parties. We view our relations from the viewpoint of national interests. That is why we will try to visit all political parties, especially the Change Movement,” Hakim Qadir Hamajan, executive of the PUK’s Politburo, told Rudaw.
However, Gorran has so far refused to meet PUK officials, despite multiple requests.
“Besides the reservations we had against the [election] process and the election results, the incident aggravated the reservations of the Change Movement and its supporters. We can’t convene with them before the [National] Assembly’s convention. These decisions will be decided upon in the convention,” Abdulrazaq Sharif, a member of Gorran’s National Assembly, told Rudaw.
The National Assembly meeting, taking place on Saturday, is also set to discuss the suspended pact, with talk of formally terminating it.
Not all Gorran supporters speak so mildly about the incident on Zargata Hill.
“The shaky hand, the one who decided to shoot bullets at Nawshirwan Mustafah’s picture, should be cut off, and dragged behind in front of the main office, at the shooting place. This is a promise, and it will be implemented one day,” Abdullah Kwexa Mubarak, a Gorran leader with his own armed militia, said in a video posted on social media.
“It isn’t up to Kwexa Mubarak to forgive him, and neither the General Coordinator [of Gorran] can forgive him. What I said was that the Gorran movement can’t forgive the crime. Every Gorran supporter is against that, and this won’t be left unattended to,” Mubarak told Rudaw’s Top Story program on May 17.
Until the law holds those responsible to account, Gorran supporters will not stand by and allow the incident to go unpunished, he said.
Dr. Ghalib Mohammed, a Gorran candidate whose believes his votes were stolen by the PUK, says the party could have driven every “corrupt PUK official” from Sulaimani had they wished.
The man thought to be behind the attack on the Gorran HQ, Shiekh Jaffar Shiekh Mustafah, who is the commander of the PUK’s 70th Peshmerga force, hopes the parties can move on from the incident.
“It is old, passed. We hope to turn a new page so that we establish Kurdish unity, fraternity, and tranquility in Iraq, for us to institute the just rights of our nation in the Iraqi parliament,” Sheikh Jaffar said on the same edition of Rudaw’s Top Story.
With Gorran now considering the controversial step of creating its own armed self-defense force, the pact between Gorran and the PUK appears to be dead and buried. Any new militia would likely contribute to the further deterioration of ties. A Gorran armed force would also threaten the PUK’s monopoly on physical force in Sulaimani province, jeopardizing the preeminence it has long enjoyed, and potentially leading to civil war.
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