Rauf Othman, head of Gorran’s general council, told Rudaw the party welcomes any effort that promotes unity between Kurdish parties in the Kurdistan Region.
Othman, however, criticized the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)’s focus on unity in Baghdad while neglecting efforts to promote unity in the Kurdistan Region itself.
“It is necessary that they, before asking for unity and participation in Baghdad, implement real unity and participation in the Kurdistan Region,” Othman added.
On Tuesday, the PUK’s politburo formally apologized to Gorran for the armed attack on the party’s Zargata Hill headquarters on May 12, in which technicals – pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns – shot at the office buildings.
A large crowd of Gorran supporters rushed to the scene to defend the party HQ. Nobody was killed in the incident.
Many accused Sheikh Jaffar Sheikh Mustafah, commander of PUK’s Unit 70 Peshmerga, of ordering the attack. As a result, some Gorran supporters said the party needs its own armed militia to defend itself.
Since the incident, Gorran had dismissed every PUK invitation for talks, joining other Kurdish opposition parties in accusing the PUK of election fraud. Gorran lost control of Sulaimani province to the PUK in the May 12 election.
Now that Iraq’s parties are seeking allies to build parliamentary blocs capable of forming a new government, Kurdish parties are beginning to get their house in order. If Kurds can agree on a strong, shared platform, they will have greater weight in talks with Shiite parties.
