Metro Center Director Accuses New Generation Leader of 'Intellectual Terrorism'
Ghareeb stressed that all citizens of the Kurdistan Region, regardless of their political affiliation, have the right to support, oppose, or express their opinions about the agreement without being intimidated.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Rahman Ghareeb, Coordinator and Director of the Metro Center for Journalists' Rights and Advocacy, on Thursday strongly criticized Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the New Generation Movement, accusing him of engaging in "intellectual terrorism" and employing "fascist language" against writers and intellectuals.
In a statement published on Facebook under the title "Calm Down, Mr. Shaswar," Ghareeb said Abdulwahid has the right to sign any political agreement—even, as he put it, "a blank sheet of paper"—and that he and his party bear full responsibility for its consequences.
However, Ghareeb stressed that all citizens of the Kurdistan Region, regardless of their political affiliation, have the right to support, oppose, or express their opinions about the agreement without being intimidated.
"The leader of the New Generation Movement has no right. Rather, he should be ashamed that he is now resorting to intellectual terrorism and using the same terms that fascist leaders used to accuse their opponents, and directing such accusations at writers and intellectuals," Ghareeb said.
He also referred to Abdulwahid's previous remarks about his political rivals outside Saray Azadi (Freedom Square) in Sulaimani, saying it was unsurprising that someone who had once spoken of "hanging his opponents in the square" would now use similarly harsh rhetoric against critics of the newly signed agreement.
In a further criticism, Ghareeb sarcastically suggested that Abdulwahid appeared to believe that signing the political agreement placed him alongside historic figures such as Nelson Mandela and Abdullah Öcalan. He added that the people of Kurdistan are free to interpret such aspirations based on their own political realities rather than through external comparisons.
The criticism came hours after Bafel Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and Shaswar Abdulwahid, leader of the New Generation Movement, formally signed a political alliance agreement at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Sulaimani.
The agreement marks a new phase of political cooperation between the two parties, although it has already prompted criticism and debate among political figures, journalists, and commentators in the Kurdistan Region.