ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A senior leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has warned that the Kurdistan Region may split, leading to a civil war that would allow regional and international powers to interfere in internal affairs.
Some elements of the PUK, particularly family members of the late former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, have been accused of cooperating with Iraqi forces in the fall of Kirkuk. The Talabani family denies the accusations.
Mala Bakhtiyar, executive head of the PUK politburo office, said “there is a grave danger” of the Kurdistan Region splitting into two administrations.
This “is expected to cause civil war and regional and international interference,” he warned in a published statement.
The Kurdistan region used to be governed by two administrations during and after the civil war of mid 1990s. The PUK controlled Sulaimani and Halabja, otherwise called the Green Zone, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) controlled Erbil and Duhok, the Yellow Zone.
The two parties pushed for unification after the US-led invasion of Iraq that resulted in one united Erbil-controlled Kurdistan Regional Government.
The parties’ Peshmerga and intelligence services were never integrated.
Bakhtiyar said his party is now being controlled by one family who are making decisions outside the party’s organs and this is something he does not accept. He said the PUK is also on the brink of a “big split.”
He called on the Kurdistan parliament to open an independent investigation into what exactly happened in Kirkuk and other areas abandoned to the Iraqi forces. Based on that investigation, those responsible should be accused of misconduct. He asked for a similar mechanism within the PUK.
“I announce that I am against separation within the PUK and against the two-administration system. I also strongly oppose every other measure except for solving the PUK’s problems. I am therefore insisting that the PUK organs should have their full political powers. No individual or party should have the right to make decisions on behalf of PUK official organs, or to hold meetings with anyone,” Bakhtiyar said.
Bakhtiyar said he will not attend any meeting held outside the official framework of the PUK’s organs.
He said that the current situation, especially in the media, has created an atmosphere of hatred that may be followed by revenge attacks.
Kosrat Rasul, PUK deputy head and Kurdistan’s vice president, and Hero Ibrahim Ahmad, from the Talabani family, earlier exchanged accusations regarding the Kirkuk crisis.
Bakhtiyar said he supported serious consideration of the US-backed alternative to the referendum. He said he raised this point in all meetings between the PUK and KPD and other parties as well as the High Referendum Council. He chose not to make his stance public, however, in order to not discourage people from voting for independence.
He had hinted at this position, saying two weeks before the vote, “We from the PUK believe that the alternative should be taken very seriously."
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