Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

PUK Brawls Peak, New Decision-Making Body Announced | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Iraq’s former President Jalal Talabani speaks during an interview with Reuters in Baghdad.


Irbil-Brawls peaked within the Iraqi Kurdistan-based Patriotic Union of Kurdistan(PUK) as Kosrat Rasul Ali – a prominent member of former president Jalal Talabani’s party- alongside a handful of bloc members announced forming a new decision-making body for the party.

Kosrat Rasul Ali leading an inner opposition of 19 members, had explained that the initiative of kicking-off a new structure for the bloc is to prevent Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, wife of Talabani, from controlling and monopolizing the party.

There will be no changes within the structure or leadership of the PUK as long as Jalal Talabani lives, said his spouse and head of the leading PUK faction, Hero Ahmed, responded to the made announcement declaring a new decision-making body in an effort to wrest control of the party from the Talabani family.

The PUK officials had previously also accused Hero Ahmed of striking under-the-table oil deals, pocketing the people’s wealth to herself and starving Iraqi Kurdistan citizens.

Speaking to a PUK official, who requested anonymity, it was clear that the recent commotion is a result of maladministration within the party. And that the aim of establishing a new decision-making body is to save the party from becoming a monopoly dominated by Talabani’s family.

The official reiterated the PUK’s duty to lead on political and economic reform in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.

As for the possibilities of an armed conflict rising, the official saw it as very improbable saying that “the dispute is merely political and no one should be considering violence.”

“Conflicting points of views are real, concerning how to lead the party and govern the state, which is why security must not be compromised as well,” he said.

Prominent PUK leadership members who have voiced their support of the faction of Kosrat Rasul and Barham Salih include: Hakim Qadir, Arsalan Bayz, Sheikh Jaafar Mustafa, Mahmoud Sangawi, Azad Jundyani, Adnan Mohammed Mina, Jamil Hawrami, Hamid Haji Ghali, Shalaw Ali Askari, and Mohammed Watman.