PM Barzani congratulates PUK president, leadership

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday congratulated the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) president and new leadership following the conclusion of the party’s fifth congress in Sulaimani, according to a statement.

Prime Minister Barzani extended his congratulations to the leadership, president, members, and followers of the party for the “success” of the congress and election of new leadership, a statement from his office read.

“I hope you embark on a new stage in serving the people and the nation and intensify your efforts to foster unity, solidarity, develop the achievements, preserving the homeland and interests of the Kurdistan’s land and people,” Barzani said, per the release.

The premier also hoped the party will boost its cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and support the implementation of its plans and programs.

The party on Sunday concluded its fifth congress in Sulaimani, where Bafel Talabani was elected the party’s president. Sixty members were elected to the PUK Leadership Council.

The PUK is the second-largest party in the Kurdistan Region. It currently holds the deputy premiership in the KRG ninth cabinet, led by Prime Minister Barzani.

The PUK was founded by the late Jalal Talabani and his comrades on June 1, 1975, in Syria’s Damascus.

Following the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein from power by the US-led coalition, Jalal Talabani, the PUK's secretary-general, became the first Kurdish president of Iraq in 2005 until 2012. He later died of a stroke in Berlin in 2017.