Commentary by journalish Niyaz Abdulla on the current political discourse in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Translation of an interview with journalist Niyaz Abdulla on Voice of America Kurdish Service.

Source: https://www.dengiamerika.com/a/5084431.html

– Most of political parties of Middle-East, including those in Kurdistan Region [of Iraq], stand on one single pillar instead of multitude of pillars. And with the collapse of that pillar, if they don’t vanish, they become very weak. What’s your analysis when it’s said that KDP, PUK and even Gorran are tied to a single personality?

– One of the big problems in Kurdistan Region [KRI], is that instead of relying on sound principles for a political party, they’ve been emulating the failed political experiments of the Middle-East. That is why in KRI too, political parties have become parties of single personalities who posses charisma. And from that they’ve become parties for the families of those personalities.
Therefore, this model has become the reason that political parties in KRI, haven’t only failed to adapt the basic principals for progress, as in the rest of the world, but a number of them don’t even posses the basic requirements for a political party. On top of being personality and family parties, they are also armed; they have militia; they exploit public wealth; they exploit international personal relations to consolidate their family dynasties, in the KRI arena as well as in Iraq and the Middle-East.

This model has not only caused the PUK to emulate KDP, or Gorran to emulate PUK, but has caused most of the other parties to emulate KDP, PUK and others. Even New Generation emulated Gorran. The same goes for KIG, KIU and others. This is etched in the essence of the ruling system in KRI, and has caused the emergence of a regime that is completely totalitarian.

– It is known that turning parties into family parties is a disease that plagues KRI. Some reform proponents [Gorran base] say that yesterday's Gorran election was a step towards turning the party into a family party. How do you see it?

– Unfortunately, what’s happening with the political parties and their dynastification is more than a disease; it’s a mentality, a political mentality that doesn’t adhere to the principals of democracy, peaceful transition of power, transparency and the institutionalization of political organizations. Yesterday, we saw how Gorran put the final nail in the coffin for liberty, the transition of power and keeping Nawshirwan Mustafa’s family away from power. Now we can say that the Gorran, which was created in 2009, died yesterday. In other words: the throne for the sons has officially been established, because the election of the leader and the “executive branch” of Gorran resulted in elimination of the dissent, which previously existed withing Gorran, against hereditary political power and public wealth exploitation. The wealth Gorran and Nawshirwan Mustafa possessed, which originally belongs to the public and should have been returned to the government, was put in the name of Nawshirwan’s sons.
We can say that another PUK and KDP, another dynasty [similar] to that of the Barzanis, Talabanis and Kosrat Rasool, have officially emerged [in Gorran] and completely consolidated its power behind the curtains.

For example, [Gorran’s current leader] Omar sayd-Ali, is one of the failed leaders of the past several years. Because of him, the rivalries started and the dynastification of Gorran sprouted. And next to that, the political direction Gorran took vis-à-vis KDP ended up causing Gorran’s failure: Gorran lost half of its [parliamentary] seats in the previous elections. [For that] Omar sayd-Ali should’ve been chastened on within the party. But now, because he was mostly doing the bidding of Nashirwan’s sons, and was one of the main enablers of the dynastification, like the rest of the enablers, he was re-elected.
This is the step which we can say caused the death of Gorran.

– As far as I know, Nawshirwan’s sons, Nima and Chiya, didn’t have any role within Gorran. And in the years they were in the U.S. and were university students, I’ve never heard of them taking part in any activity. What has made them to be the key in Gorran; is it merely because they have control over the money?

– The sons of Nawshirwan Mustafa, Jalal Talabani, Barzani and Kosrat Rasool, wouldn’t be able to take such steps if it wasn’t for their fathers’ support. When Nawshirwan Mustafa established Gorran, most of us considered it a viable political force and commended it for their fight against family rule and against public wealth exploitation by political parties, their leaders and the sons of those leaders. All of that and Gorran’s fight against corruption among other things were important steps that deserved praise. But he was still in life when he revealed his corrupt side through his sons. I have to say this unfortunately. On this matter Mahmoud Sangawi [PUK figure], in comparison, was more honest than Nawshirwan. Mahmoud Sangawi was candidly saying that he would take public wealth took take care of his sons and secure them posts and ranks just like any other official of the ruling families in the political parties. But when Nawshirwan had his sons accompany him, he would say “they are my bodyguards.” And yet, before he died, he put a steel factory in their name, along with Wsha media company, which is the intellectual fruit of independent journalists and intellectuals and their sacrifices, and sacrifices of the public. It was the fruit of that sacrifice, yet he put in the name of his sons. Nawshirwan Mustafa couldn’t even show as much courage as Sherko Bekas, who refused to put Sardam company in his name nor his son’s names.
We can therefore say that that mentality belonged to Nawshirwan himself. It is the culmination of the political discourse that Nawshirwan Mustafa himself couldn’t surpass. That’s why his now sons –despite not having any official ranks or posts– run Gorran like a business. From now on we can say that Gorran plays the same role as that of Muhammad haji-Mahmoud’s party; Kurdistan Socialist Democratic Party. Mahmoud’s party has one single parliamentary seat, yet like with Masoud Barzani, he has posts and ranks. And his party was even granted ministrial post. I therefore think that if the relation between Gorran and KDP continues like this; if Gorran remains to be the instrument for KDP’s oppression and corruption, in future elections KDP will even commit election fraud for Gorran too, so that they can keep the posts and ranks.

– Both KDP and PUK are happy about the re-election of Omar sayd-Ali and his colleague, and sent them [congratulatory] messages. Is their happiness about that because they find working with them easier, or is there another reason behind it?

– KDP and PUK have succeeded in their efforts. Previously, Gorran was saying: we’re against political hereditary, dynastification and taking public wealth. Yet Gorran is now similar to PUK and KDP; it’s over. The force that was standing against PUK and KDP has fallen. PUK and KDP have succeeded. They are happy and delighted.
Our biggest problem in KRI is that the parties that once declared themselves different from PUK and KDP, have later copied those two in their political discourse. They claimed to be against political hereditary, but we see that’s false; they claim to be against corruption, yet they’re taking part in it.

And besides all that, they haven’t been working for social progress and changing the public political mentality and discourse. In the past, they concentrated all their efforts only on the issue of finance: the issue of the budget and [public servants’] salaries. As we see when the issue of budget and salaries is not in the news, the opposition becomes silent. They don’t have anything else to say while there are hundreds of other immense problems. But those parties don’t speak out about them.

I must mention another danger. As I mentioned, Gorran of the 2009 died yesterday. But the Islamic Group and Islamic Union face the same danger. There is a danger that the “Political Committee” [the proposed organ meant to give Masoud Barzani super-governmental powers] could be supported by Gorran, Islamic Group, Islamic Union and the others.

– There used to be talk of KDP people within PUK. Is there now an equivalent for Gorran: KDP people within Gorran, or PUK people within Gorran?

– It is over now. With the latest leadership re-election Gorran is over. The problem is that Gorran used to bash others for what they themselves have done lately. They would bash some individuals to a point that the public would attack those individuals on social media. Yet they’re now doing the same [as those individuals]. I therefore think, generally speaking, the hope Gorran helped create is now gone. And there is nothing left that makes us expect Gorran to behave differently. Because all the hurdles for Nawshirwan Mustafa’s sons to inherent political power have been removed.

– Both in the old days and in the era after 2003, there were, and still are, smaller political parties or organizations that were either in KDP or PUK camp, or were constantly changing side, and after the establishment of KRG, they were sometimes in the government and sometimes in the opposition; like PSDK, Communist Party of Kurdistan or the Islamist parties.
Is there now a side that can be called opposition in the KRI?

– We have political parties that define themselves as opposition; such as New Generation, Communist Party, Islamic Union and Islamic Group. We have 4 opposition parties. But the problem is that... for example the opposition Communist Party often acts just like Socialist Democratic Party of Kurdistan. Another is New Generation. As I mentioned, unfortunately they emulated Gorran. And they failed to conduct politics –through its figures like Shaswar Abulwahid– in ways other than populism. I’ve just criticized Gorran for only focusing on the finance issue. The New Generation, instead of working on changing public political mentality, they’ve been working on encouraging people dream of becoming rich. That is the conduct of companies, not political parties. In other words, they’re kind of saying that people can only have dignity if they are rich; if you have dreams and want to study, you must be rich. They don’t work on promoting a social-democratic system that is needed in a governing system. The model the New Generation is applying is the one that Trump is applying, which sort of disgusts the world. Next to that, there is a developing religious populism among these political forces. And all of these are dangerous developments.
And the rest are the Islamic Group [KIG] and Islamic Union [KIU]. Unfortunately, KIG pandered to Masoud Barzani a few days ago. It is true, we don’t want the parties to be enemies of one anther, and should be meeting with one another. But the message that was conveyed to the media by the KIG head was that they will no longer speak against each other, or not criticize each other harshly. It baffles me that a party like KIG, which sees the bitter reality in KRI, to agree with Masoud Barzani when he said “I find it strange that KIG criticizes us harshly; have we fought each other?”
Doesn’t this party know Masoud Barzani? Don’t they see what an oppressor, what sort of dictator and what figure he is; who sucks the life and blood out of this nation?
My fear is that through some figures within KIG, KDP would drive that party to become like Gorran. As I mentioned, KDP was successful in that with Gorran. And it’s not far-fetched for the KIG to suffer the same fate if they continue to make these fatal political mistakes.

As for KIU –not only within the KRI– if the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey or elsewhere offers them something, I think they would even turn on KRI on a regional level.