PM Barzani congratulates PUK on 48th anniversary

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Thursday congratulated the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on its 48th anniversary.

“I congratulate the PUK leadership, members, and followers,” Barzani wrote in a Facebook post.

The premier urged all the political parties to work together and bear the responsibility of serving the national interest of all the people in the Kurdistan Region. 

Also, Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani in a phone call on Thursday congratulated PUK President Bafel Talabani and expressed his hope that the occasion will serve as an opportunity for “national unity and reconciliation, particularly between the KDP and PUK.”

Calling for political unity and protecting the Kurdistan Region’s entity, the KDP reiterated its position that the sixth parliamentary elections must happen this year. 

The current KRG cabinet is a coalition government, representing various political parties. While the cabinet is led by PM Masrour Barzani (KDP), the deputy prime minister is Qubad Talabani (PUK), the son of the party’s late secretary-general and two-time Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani. The ninth cabinet includes six PUK ministries. 

The party was founded on June 1, 1975, in Damascus, Syria, by the late (Mam) Jalal Talabani, who passed away in 2017 after suffering a stroke.