PUK Politburo apologizes for attack on Gorran headquarters

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two ruling parties of the Kurdistan Region, officially apologized to the Change Movement for an attack on its headquarters in Sulaimani on May 12 following Iraq’s elections.

“On this Eid of tolerance and forgiveness, we announced that we apologize to Gorran and ask for its forgiveness if any incident outside the official decision of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has made them upset!” reads a statement from the PUK Politburo’s media office on Tuesday.

PUK specifically mentioned the incident on May 12, following Iraq’s elections, when Gorran’s headquarters on Zargata Hill in Sulaimani was attacked by Kurdish forces, thought to be acting on orders from Shekih Jaafar Sheikh Mustafa, the commander of the PUK’s Unit 70 Peshmerga. 

“This message of ours stems from our sense of responsibility towards the fate of our nation, all the political parties, and resolving the political, economic and social issues,” continued the statement.

The Kurdistan Region is observing holidays this week for Eid al-Adha.

“We extend congratulations to the peoples of Kurdistan, and our people throughout Kurdistan, and hope that this Eid, as the Eid of forgiveness and tolerance between each other, for the sake of developing societal peace, be accepted,” added the statement.

PUK called on all parties on the occasion to resolve the economic and service issues of the people, despite “dangers,” for the unity of Kurds — in a bid to form an Iraqi government that will adhere to constitutional articles and implement agreements.

This comes amid efforts by both the ruling PUK and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to sway opposition Kurdistani parties into a united front for negotiations in Baghdad — a bloc that would have as many seats (54 without New Generation and the minority quota seats) as Muqtada al-Sadr’s winning Sayirun alliance.

In Baghdad, one bloc consisting of Hikma, Nasr, Wataniya and Sayirun (136 seats) is competing with about 127 seats controlled by Fatih, State of Law coalition and some Sunnis in their National Axis Alliance to form the largest parliamentary bloc. The Sunni's newly-established National Axis Alliance has 54 seats.

Kurdistani parties are yet to decide, but the New Generation Movement with its four seats, has already decided to join the camp with Nasr and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The four Kurdistani opposition parties — Gorran, the Coalition for Democracy and Justice (CDJ), Kurdistan Islamic Group (Komal), and Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) had demanded for the PUK and KDP to apologize for alleged fraud in Iraq’s May 12 elections.

Gorran had been unwilling to meet with the PUK following the Zargata Hill incident.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Gorran acknowledged that the PUK had apologized; although they did not say whether the apology was accepted or if they will now meet with the PUK.