ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A drone strike near Sulaimani’s airport on Friday afternoon fueled the flames of already tense relations between the Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties and longtime rivals, bringing more uncertainty to an election year.
A drone strike targeted a convoy carrying United States military personnel near Sulaimani International Airport, causing no casualties. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) confirmed that their general commander, Mazloum Abdi, was in the convoy that was targeted. Abdi has blamed Turkey for the attack.
Abdi, as commander of the SDF that led the war against the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria, has close relations with the US, but is wanted by Ankara for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Turkey frequently carries out drone attacks on alleged PKK targets in the Kurdistan Region.
A Kurdish government source told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Saturday that Abdi was in Sulaimani for meetings. As he was leaving, Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leaders learned he was a potential target and informed the Coalition who then assigned a convoy to accompany him and provide protection.
The incident has pitted the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which controls Sulaimani and Halabja, known as the Green Zone, has close ties with the SDF and is accused of harboring the PKK, against the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls Erbil and Duhok provinces known as the Yellow Zone, and enjoys good relations with Turkey.
The closeness of the links between the SDF and the PUK were exposed last month when a helicopter carrying SDF counter-terror forces crashed in bad weather, killing nine. They were going to Sulaimani for training, three months after PUK leader Bafel Talabani visited northeast Syria (Rojava) and discussed joint anti-terror efforts with Abdi.
The helicopter crash is considered a factor behind a Turkish decision this week to impose a three-month ban on Sulaimani’s airport, preventing flights in and out of the city from passing through Turkish airspace and effectively cutting the airport off from Europe. Addressing the ban, Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish presidential spokesperson, accused Sulaimani of being a safe haven for the PKK.
This sentiment was alluded to by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Jotiar Adil in a statement reacting to the drone strike. “The behaviour of an authoritarian party regime in Sulaimani led to the closure of Turkish airspace towards Sulaimani International Airport and then this attack,” he stated. Adil is a member of the KDP. His comments kicked off an exchange of harshly-worded statements.
Bafel Talabani, head of the PUK, in a veiled reference, accused the KDP of assisting Turkey to attack Sulaimani. He said the PUK has been patient in order to promote Kurdish unity, “but the continued inappropriate behaviors of some security agencies of a political party under the shadow of an individualistic and self-imposed government have crossed all boundaries.”
Qubad Talabani, KRG deputy prime minister and Bafel’s brother, said Adil represents just one party and cannot speak for the whole government. Kurdistan Parliament Speaker and PUK member Rewaz Faeq condemned anyone who tries to justify the attack.
Others have urged calm. Kurdistan Region Presidency, held by the KDP’s Nechirvan Barzani, called on all parties to “exercise restraint” and avoid assigning blame while an investigation is ongoing. Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir and member of the Gorran party urged the KDP and PUK to resolve their dispute and not “make Kurdistan the victim of their own conflicts.”
The KDP and PUK have been rivals for decades. They fought a bloody civil war in the 1990s, but set down their arms with US mediation in 1999 and agreed to share power in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) after the 2003 US invasion. The parties have maintained an uneasy alliance, but their relationship now appears to be on the rocks as the PUK has not attended cabinet meetings since late last year after a former PUK colonel was killed in Erbil.
Hawkar Jaff was a colonel in the ranks of the PUK’s counter-terror forces but was fired in 2021 during an internal feud that saw Bafel Talabani oust his co-president Lahur Talabany and seize full control of the party. Jaff was killed in a bombing in Erbil and KDP-linked forces accused the PUK of carrying out the assassination. The PUK denied the charge and in protest stopped attending cabinet meetings.
The assassination, however, was just the final straw on the heavily burdened proverbial camel.
The KDP and PUK each accuse the other of mishandling their finances. According to the PUK, millions of dollars that should have gone to Sulaimani were used by the KRG to pay off its debts, while the KDP alleges that around 40 percent of Sulaimani’s income goes missing monthly.
The pair also disagrees over elections that were supposed to take place last year. The vote was deferred because parties could not agree on amending the electoral law, quota seats for minorities, and reactivation of the electoral commission. Under mounting domestic and international criticism for the delay, last month the Kurdistan Region Presidency set November 18 as the election date. Though the parties had held meetings to hash out solutions, the PUK said they were not informed of the date.
As they spar, both sides take frequent swipes against each other in the media with accusations of “running away” from responsibility or being “childish.”
They nearly had a physical confrontation late last year when Bafel Talabani arrived at Erbil airport in the company of a PUK counter-terror commander who is wanted by Erbil in connection with the killing of Jaff.
The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) chief Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in February called on the KDP and the PUK to act “quickly and pragmatically” towards resolving their differences, as their divisions have “adverse effects” on the people and institutions of the Kurdistan Region.
