The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have resorted to pointing fingers at each other, claiming that either side has jeopardized the possibility of a united Kurdish front in Baghdad, as the promised “Kurdish front” fails to materialize.
The relationship between the parties seems to have only worsened following a Sunday statement from the PUK co-chair Bafel Talabani, during which he not only announced his party’s endorsement for Barham Salih to run a second term, whom the KDP seems to see as an unsuitable candidate, but also blamed the KDP for jeopardizing Kurdish unity in Baghdad.
“The KDP has taken steps independently and made agreements with some political parties without any regards to the will of Kurdish parties and Kurdish unity,” the party leader said in the statement following the hours-long meeting with his party’s leadership council.
This came despite both parties preaching for a united Kurdish front continuously and deciding on sending a joint negotiating team to Baghdad following October’s early election.
However, the PUK claims that it was not on the agenda for the KDP to form other agreements with Sunni and Shiite parties, and they were left with no choice.
“The plan was for KDP, PUK, and other political parties to go to Baghdad with a set agenda, not for us to be given a paper in Baghdad and be told whether you sign it or not, this is the only option,” PUK politburo member Stran Abdullah told Rudaw on Monday.
According to Abdullah, the KDP team continuously told the PUK that they had spoken to Shiite cleric and leader of the Sadrist Movement Muqtada al-Sadr, but they never said that they had reached an agreement and, in Abdullah’s words, the KDP “tricked” the PUK and other Kurdish parties.
Following the first parliamentary session on January 9, KDP officials confirmed that they had made an agreement with the Sadrist bloc and the largest Sunni bloc, Taqadum Coalition, which the PUK considers to be a disadvantage for Kurds.
“We have not said that we will not listen to KDP's opinion, but the KDP wants to have a candidate and also have a say on who the PUK nominates” Abdullah said.
Talabani’s statement did not go unanswered. The KDP soon issued a statement claiming that it was the PUK’s inability to have a clear view going forth that led their party to work alone, adding that their party had initially joined the PUK and formed a negotiating team together.
“Unfortunately, it became clear to us that the representatives from the participating party had no clear views and were unable to decide on responses. In addition, he withdrew from the joint delegation without informing the KDP,” a Monday statement from the KDP’s spokesperson Mahmood Mohammed read.
“The PUK should have acted more carefully on the issue of the president and the unity of Kurdistan, and should take responsibility for the current and subsequent situation,” he added.
The PUK responded once more, this time with an even stronger tone.
“We remind the KDP that there were no concrete agreements between us because they had not offered the opportunity and wanted to make a non-transparent agreement with us,” a statement from the PUK spokesperson Amin Baba Sheikh warned on Monday, adding that the agreement the KDP has made with the Sadrist bloc “in no way serves the political process in Iraq or the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan Region.”
According to a long-standing customary agreement, the three main leadership positions in the Iraqi government are divided among Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis. Whereas Kurds get the presidency, Shiites get the premiership, and Sunnis get the parliamentary speaker. Among Kurds, the PUK has held on to the presidency position since 2005.
This year, the KDP has put forth a candidate, Hoshyar Zebari, to run for the Iraqi presidency and challenge PUK’s Barham Salih for the position, and they believe that they deserve to have a candidate of their own.
“Everything has been settled and we are insistent that Hoshyar Zebari is KDP's candidate, because the presidency is a Kurdish right not a specific party's, and the KDP as the largest Kurdish party has the right to ask for that position,” Shwan Mohammed, the head of the KDP office in Baghdad told Rudaw on Monday.
The KDP and PUK for years abided by an agreement, more commonly identified as the strategic agreement, where the PUK would get the Iraqi president of their choice, and the KDP in return would get the presidency of the Kurdistan Region.
Neither side contested the candidates of each other for years, until 2018, where the KDP and for the first time, put forth Fuad Hussein against Salih for the position. However KDP’s Hussein, who is now Iraqi foreign minister, did not make the cut and Salih was chosen as the country’s president.
With the deadline to choose a president set for February 8, the KDP appears to have a stronghold with the Sadrist Movement, which is the parliament’s largest bloc, backing them.
