ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The co-chair of Sulaimani’s ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Lahur Talabany, said on Tuesday that a warrant has been issued for his arrest as dozens of men, armed and unarmed, gathered in front of his house following moves to force him abroad.
He said that he was issued an arrest warrant on the pretext of “gathering militias” when dozens of armed individuals gathered in front of his house, adding that he is ready to go to court.
Scores of people gathered in front of the co-chair’s house on Monday and Tuesday amid news of attempts to drive him out of the Kurdistan Region, to which he responded “I have decided to face this plot head on and will not leave my nation until my last breath.”
Talabany and his cousin Bafel Talabani have been at loggerheads since early July, when intelligence agency and counter-terrorism units’ leaders close to Lahur were dismissed and he was also forced out of his position by his rival and cousin Bafel and his brother, Qubad, who is also the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Region.
Bafel changed his social media bios to “president” of the PUK, and official party media referred to Lahur as “former co-president,” a move that was later reversed.
On July 20, Talabany said that he had “temporarily” handed over power to Bafel on the condition a committee “from the party be formed to reveal the truth regarding the accusations against me.”
Talabany announced on Monday that he has decided to “seek legal recourse through the Sulaimani judiciary and ask that all the accusations against me be resolved through the courts” and said he was told to leave the Region.
Official PUK media said mid-July a spy had been arrested in the party’s Sulaimani headquarters “and has confessed to working for the former PUK co-chair,” official media for the party reported, referring to Lahur and citing senior sources. Hours earlier, Bafel had said the shakeup in the party was to end abuse of party positions for personal gain, including “smuggling, extortion, threats, and spying.”
On Monday, a PUK-affiliated media outlet shared a video accusing the brothers of Lahur Talabany of extortion, corruption, and theft. In a video, a man identified as Bilind Ali Abdulrahman who works in the oil industry, accused Polad of “kidnapping” him in 2015 in an attempt to force him and his family to hand over money and property to Lahur Talabany’s other brother, Ako.
The two brothers were issued an arrest warrant on July 27. A source from Sulaimani’s judiciary confirmed Lahur’s arrest warrant to Rudaw as well, saying it was related to the same case.
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