“We have an agreement with the PUK. As Gorran we are complying with all the points in the agreement. As far as we have spoken with our friends from the PUK, they too are in compliance. Therefore the agreement remains,” Shunas Sherko told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman on Wednesday.
Gorran and the PUK announced in early May that they would enter Iraq’s October parliamentary election as a coalition. Gorran was founded in 2009 by a breakaway group of PUK members disgruntled with the parent party’s politics and for many supporters of both parties the coalition announcement was a long awaited reunion. The status of the alliance, however, was called into doubt this week because of internal problems in the PUK.
Lahur Talabany, co-president of the PUK, was a key negotiator bringing his party and Gorran together and he was chosen to lead the coalition. He appears, however, to have been ousted from his position within the PUK.
The Gorran candidate said who will lead their coalition is a PUK decision. “There are two things in our agreement, the head of the coalition is given to our brothers in the PUK, and we have got the decision-maker position of the coalition,” Sherko said. “How the PUK deals with that matter is specific to the PUK. As Gorran, we do not interfere with PUK’s internal matters at all.”
“If there is a change in the situation, it will be released to media,” he added.
Last week, rumors spread that Bafel Talabani and his brother Qubad Talabani, deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Region, were trying to change the heads of the PUK’s intelligence agency and counter-terrorism units. The rumors were confirmed on Sunday when the brothers officially inaugurated the two new chiefs in Sulaimani.
The former heads were closely affiliated with Lahur Talabany, including his brother Polad who was head of the counter-terror unit. The replacements are believed to be closer to Bafel Talabani.
Bafel Talabani also changed his Facebook and Twitter bios to “president” and the party’s official media described him as president in an article on Monday.
On Tuesday, security forces raided the office a new media channel affiliated with Lahur Talabany, iPLUS TV, which had not yet gone on air.
Lahur Talabany and Bafel Talabani were elected as co-chairs of the PUK in February 2020, following years of wrangling within the party over who would succeed the late Jalal Talabani, who died in 2017. Jalal is the father of Bafel and Qubad. The party did not hold a congress to elect a new leader until December 2019, largely because of internal rivalries. At the congress, the party adopted a co-leadership and the cousins were elected to the posts two months later.
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