The meeting was called by the so-called majority faction, led by Hero Ibrahim, a powerful member of the party’s politburo and wife of the PUK’s Secretary General, Jalal Talabani.
Late on Thursday, the majority faction issued a statement saying that the meeting will go ahead as planned, saying the party had wasted time allowing the rift to continue for a month and a half, putting to rest rumours that circulated on Tuesday that the meeting might be cancelled to allow the two factions to find common ground.
“After the passage of one and a half months following the unexpected problems inside the PUK and the waste of time, the politburo has convened only once, and made general decisions,” the statement said.
“After much consideration and patience, not only have there been no steps or suggestions made to address the fabricated problems, but time has been wasted and there have been many secret, illegitimate meetings; organs within the party under the name of “board” have been created and hundreds of calls have been made to our comrades and heads of the organs; all this to implement programs and decisions contrary to our bylaws. That is why the meeting for the leadership council would take place as planned at 11 am on October 15, 2016,” the statement detailed.
The rival faction, dubbed the decision-making body, led by Kosrat Rasul Ali and Barham Salih, who hold the positions of the first and second deputies of the PUK Secretary General respectively, issued a statement in response on Thursday.
They described the meeting as “incorrect” and against party bylaws and said should the meeting go ahead, it would split the party.
“According to the bylaws of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the leadership council meetings should be under the supervision of his excellency the Secretary General. And now because of the sickness of Mam Jalal (Jalal Talabani), it should be under the supervision of the first deputy of the Secretary General,” reads the statement issued by press office of the first deputy Kosrat Rasul
“That is why calling for the leadership council meeting without the knowledge and presence of the first deputy of the Secretary General is not correct and is against the bylaws. It is also an announcement for the PUK’s split. Of course the political and legal responsibility for this lies with those who hold these sorts of meetings, especially since there is a sincere effort to solve the internal problems of the PUK.”
The two factions came into existence in early September when the decision making body announced its creation in order to return the party to its revolutionary roots. Both sides claim they are the legitimate representatives of the party.
