Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of Iraqi Kurdistan region, Erbil, April 2020. Photo: KRG
SULAIMANI/ERBIL, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— As tensions over the deployment of Peshmerga units to Zini Warte continue to simmer, Iraqi Kurdistan region’s two largest parties exchanged letters over the weekend criticizing one another for straining the working relationship between the two historic rivals who now sit in government together.
In a statement on Friday Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, who is a senior figure within the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), accused the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of disrupting a legitimate operation to uphold the rule of law when it sent one of its party-affiliated units to observe operations conducted by a Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs-controlled unit in an area straddling Erbil and Sulaimani governorates late last month.
In his statement, Barzani further accused the PUK of undermining unified government in the Kurdish region.
The PUK dismissed Barzani’s broadside late on Friday, saying that it entered into the ninth KRG cabinet last summer on the basis of a political agreement that held that all parties had an equal responsibility to uphold political stability and administer the Region. It added that the decision to go into government with the KDP and the Change Movement (Gorran) was made in order to serve the people.
“What was interesting about the Prime Minister’s earlier statement is that he has unjustly attacked the PUK,” the letter said.
On Saturday, Barzani said that he had received the PUK’s letter and that he wanted to address the issue privately.
“Everyone and every side should prevent the situation from escalating,” Barzani said.
“As for the factions within the government, the best place for discussion and for exchanging ideas is at Council of Ministers meetings and I shall address the letter there,” he added.
The Kurdistan Communities Union (Koma Civaken Kurdistan-KCK) on Friday accused the Barzani clan’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of passing information to the Turkish military that led to a deadly airstrike on a Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) camp in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Iraqi Kurdistan is not unified region, it is divided politically and geographically between the KDP led by Massoud Barzani and PUK led by the Talabani’s clan.
The Kurdish armed forces so-called Peshmerga in Iraqi Kurdistan are not unified forces, and considered as militias loyal and taking orders directly from the ruling parties of KDP and PUK.
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