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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Tensions have risen in recent days between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) after a Peshmerga belonging to units commanded by the PUK died in custody following his arrest by KDP-controlled Asayesh (Security) officers.
At 11pm local time on Monday, January 13, Erbil’s Asayesh arrested 40-year-old PUK Peshmerga Majeed Brayim Abdullah. Three days later, on the afternoon of Thursday, January 16, the Medico-Legal Department in Erbil, which conducted the autopsy, asked Abdullah’s family to collect his body, claiming he had hung himself.
Abdullah, a father of five, had been a Peshmerga for 15 years in the PUK-controlled 70 Unit. A source from Erbil’s anti-drug directorate told Rudaw that Abdullah had been arrested for the use and possession of drugs.
The family has rejected the department’s conclusion that Abdullah hung himself.
Erbil’s KDP-controlled Asayesh issued a statement on January 16 claiming Abdullah had been arrested under a judge-issued warrant to search Abdullah’s home. Asayesh investigators had uncovered evidence indicating Abdullah was in possession of 60 kilograms of an unspecified controlled substance, confiscated by Asayesh, the statement added.
Asayesh officers said they uncovered more drugs in Abdullah’s home while making the arrest. Another individual was arrested as part of the investigation, the statement said, but it did not clarify whether the unnamed individual was part of Abdullah’s family.
“Unfortunately, on January 16, 2020, he [Abdullah] ended his life in jail,” the Asayesh statement said. “All evidence on this case and legal measures are available.”
The Peshmerga is not a fully integrated national force, but rather a collection of units divided between the Kurdistan Region’s two ruling parties, the KDP and PUK. The 70 Unit is controlled by the PUK, while the 80 Unit is controlled by the KDP, each commanding roughly 50,000, according to official figures.
The exact number of Peshmerga under their command is unclear owing to the vast number of ‘ghost’ employees on the Region’s books.
A smaller number of politically independent units are under the control of the Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs. The Ministry is undergoing a reform program backed by the US-led coalition to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) to professionalize and unify the force. The KRG has also committed to eliminating ghost employees.
Along the same lines, both the KDP and PUK have their security and intelligence apparatus in the areas of Kurdistan Region under their control – a hangover from the Kurdish civil war years of the 1990s. The KDP has full administrative and security control over Erbil and Duhok provinces, while the PUK has control over Sulaimani and Halabja provinces.
The PUK Peshmerga was not satisfied by the KDP Asayesh explanation for Abdullah’s death, suggesting there may have been foul play.
Mustafah Chawrash, the commander of the PUK’s 70 Unit, told Rudaw on January 16 they were awaiting the autopsy report of Sulaimani’s own Medico-Legal Department, where Abdullah’s body had been taken. He also claimed Erbil’s Asayesh had arrested the PUK Peshmerga without a court order.
“I have spoken with our friends in the Ministry of Peshmerga and I have asked for the formation of an investigative committee because that person was a Peshmerga. Let us assume he made a mistake. Things should have been done through legal paths. What happened is a bad development,” Chawrash told Rudaw.
The Asayesh should have first investigated how the 60 kilograms of drugs made their way into the Region to begin with, Chawrash said, disputing the claim Abdullah was in possession of the illicit stash.
The Kurdistan Parliament announced the formation of an investigative committee on Sunday.
“The Parliament’s committee that has been formed is composed of Peshmerga Affairs Committee and Human Rights Committee, and I am heading the committee,” Osman Sedari, deputy head of the Peshmerga Affairs parliamentary committee, told Rudaw on Sunday.
The committee began work on Monday. The Kurdistan Regional Government is also slated to form its own committee to investigate the matter.
The formation of the committees has not halted the war of words between the two parties, however. On Sunday, influential PUK Peshmerga Commander Mahmoud Sangawi verbally attacked the Erbil Asayesh.
“We always say that the political parties in Kurdistan should unite… what happened in the past days, unfortunately, with a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Peshmerga named Majeed taken and martyred very mercilessly by the Asayesh of the Kurdistan Democratic Party,” Sangawi told an event commemorating fallen members of the PUK security forces.
Sangawi disputed the possibility that Abdullah had hung himself in his cell and slammed the lack of due process.
Erbil Asayesh has threatened legal action against Sangawi in response to his comments.
“Our agency reserves the right to undertake legal measures against any unjust accusations and slandering against our forces and agency,” it said.
The KDP and PUK have ruled the Kurdistan Region since the 90s, with their own respective zones. The two parties laid the foundations of the Kurdistan Regional Government, and together, in post-2003 talks for the Iraqi constitution, were able to present a united Kurdish Front in Baghdad, cementing Kurdish autonomy.
The two parties, alongside the Change Movement (Gorran), formed a new government in 2019. The stability of the KRG depends heavily on good relations between the parties.
The KDP and PUK fought a disastrous civil war during the 1990s. Although relations have vastly improved, tensions occasionally flare up.
The two parties often engage in tit-for-tat, the latest in January 2019 when the KDP arrested six PUK members in Erbil in response to the PUK’s arrest of a prominent KDP member in its own areas.
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