PM Barzani says party interference must not hinder government duties

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said Sunday that the interference of political parties in government affairs is the main obstacle in the implementation of the programs on his cabinet’s agenda, calling for support rather than a rise in tension. 

“In the Kurdistan Region, party or individual decisions should in no part prevent the implementation of the work and the program of the government. I look at the entire Kurdistan Region equally and consider myself responsible to all citizens of the region in all provinces,” Barzani said in a statement issued Sunday afternoon, adding that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has been “prevented” from doing its work. 

Barzani denied a claim by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) that a “blockade” has been imposed on the border of Sulaimani, saying that oil revenues of the Region and the “occasional” budget received from Baghdad are distributed equally while holding the PUK responsible for the situation in areas under their zone of influence. 

The Kurdistan Region’s two main ruling parties, the KDP and the PUK, have for decades disagreed over a variety of issues, sometimes leading to major unrests in the Region. 

Despite working together in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the two parties have established control over different parts of the Region, often being referred to as the “Yellow Zone" and "Green Zone.“ The KDP is dominant in Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK rules Sulaimani and Halabja.

The PUK has accused the KRG of favoring Erbil and providing fewer funds for Sulaimani. Both parties have accused one another of handing over only part of the local income to the KRG.

Barzani blamed the PUK for preventing a decision agreed in the ministerial council from coming into fruition. 

“There is a decision of the Council of Ministers to send joint forces to the border crossings, but the PUK prevented it and threatened that should it be done, civil war will occur,” he said, continuing that “good clarity” exists to address ongoing revenue sharing disputes in the Kurdistan Region.

However, Barzani revealed that a bigger problem than revenue sharing issues exists. 

-Assassination of Hawkar Jaff-

Hawkar Abdullah Rasoul, known as Hawkar Jaff, was killed in Erbil on October 7 when a bomb detonated on his vehicle. He was a former PUK counter-terrorism official in the ranks of the Counter-Terrorism Group (CTG) but was fired in summer 2021 amid a heated internal issue between cousins Bafel Talabani and Lahur Talabani – then co-leaders of the party.

The Erbil-based Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC) later claimed that top military commanders from a PUK-affiliated force were responsible for the explosion, which also wounded Jaff’s wife, two children, and sister who were in the vehicle when it exploded. The CTG, however, denied all involvement and labeled the publication of a video posted by the KRSC as political and a “scenario,” blaming the KDP-affiliated Parastin for the assassination instead.  

“What exists is that we are being asked to suppress the assassination of Hawkar Jaff, which is an unjust demand and the citizens of the Region should not accept it,” Barzani said, calling for the perpetrator of the bombing – CTG’s Erbil surveillance head Yasir Faysal Hussein – to be handed over to the court and for appropriate measures to be taken against him. 

The PUK was rocked by a power struggle in July 2021 as Bafel Talabani ousted Lahur Talabany. Bafel Talabani said the shakeup was to end abuse of party positions such as smuggling and extortion. The cousins’ internal issues escalated when Bafel Talabani decided to change the heads of the PUK’s intelligence agency and counter-terrorism units, who were affiliated to Lahur Talabany, replacing them with people loyal to himself.

-Kurdistan Region elections-

Another point of contention in the Kurdistan Region is the issue of elections, after members of the Region’s parliament in October voted by a majority to extend the current four-year term of the legislature by one year, in a session boycotted by the opposition blocs who deemed the proposed bill “illegal.” 

A new parliamentary election was set to be held on October 1, but disagreements between the blocs over the current elections law and the electoral commission prevented the process from being conducted on its scheduled time.

In his statement, the Kurdish prime minister called for a parliamentary session “as soon as possible to reactivate the High Electoral Commission, so that the steps can be taken to hold elections.” 

Bafel Talabani in November blamed the ruling KDP and accused the party of not wanting to carry out the elections in an exclusive interview with Rudaw’s Shaho Amin. 

“We need to amend the parliament’s elections law. The KDP does not want to do the elections … Let us draft a tidy law, find a solution so that the minorities can represent themselves, and we [PUK] will hold the elections tomorrow,” he said. 

Barzani once again reiterated calls for the Kurdistan Region’s political parties who participate in the government to support its agenda and “not transfer political problems into the government.” 

The Kurdistan Region Presidency in December called on all political parties to unite and accept each other in light of serious threats facing the Region. 

This came after the Region’s main ruling party – the KDP – had started meeting with different political parties in a bid to defuse outstanding political tensions in the Region.

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