PUK attempts to mend relations with Kurdish parties

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has created a committee made up of party officials and leadership council members to normalize relations with the Gorran Movement and other Kurdish parties.

“We have a committee to contact and speak with the parties,” PUK leadership council member Farid Asasard said on Sunday, assuring that the first on their list to visit would be Gorran.

“We hope they agree to meet with us to discuss our issues and arrive at solutions,” he added.

Relations between the PUK and other Kurdish parties began to deteriorate after the May 12 Iraqi parliamentary elections following allegations that the former had committed fraud.

In response to the PUK’s plans, Bestun Fayaq, Kurdistan Region lawmaker from the Gorran faction, expressed that “we are no longer ready to have any meetings with the leaders of the party [PUK].”

“All political and social ties that existed between our [two] parties and the leadership are gone,” he added, describing the PUK’s alleged actions in the election as “irresponsible and unseemly.”

Backed by five other Kurdish parties after the elections, Gorran had rejected the results in the Kurdistan Region and disputed territories and held meetings to discuss their course of action for the future.

In an interview with Kurdistan 24, Head of Gorran’s Erbil office Hemin Mohammed Shekhani pointed to the possibility of the Kurdish party forming its own paramilitary force if all options were exhausted.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany