Kurdish Politics is Locked in the Mismanagement of Masud Barzani Leadership

Mufid Abdulla

By Arian Mufid:

Kurdish politics has remained stagnated since the attack by Isis on the region over a year ago. No Kurdish party is willing to own up to causing this situation. We should not really be surprised as nothing can define the political makeup of the KRG. Its current state is no better than 23 years ago; history keeps repeating itself with very little changes taking place year upon year. The attack on Sinjar by Isis which resulted in its occupation within a few hours, was the result of the collapse of morale among the forces which dominated the city, which saw, along with the occupation of the city, thousands of women and children becoming slaves of Isis in the markets of Mosul. Barzani is the President and his leadership has not taken any of the blame for this. For President Barzani this is not all bad as he is hoping that the crisis can be exploited for his own objectives. The wages and salaries of civil servants have been delayed by four months and the KRG has almost $20 billion outstanding in debts. At the end of November 2015, Ashti Hawrami, the KRG’s Oil Minister admitted that the financial crises had been caused by poor political management by KRG leaders. As prominent Kurdish writer Aref Korbani stated “we should have some advantageous results from the crisis in the area of the Middle East; but on the contrary we are more engaged with our feud”.

In the middle of August 2015 the legitimacy of the President of Kurdistan Masud Barzani had come to an end and none of the Kurdish parties wanted to extend his position for two basic reasons: firstly, Masud Barzani had not achieved anything towards their overriding goals for Kurdish nationalism and their own independent Kurdish state. Secondly, Barzani is staying in power to uphold the ideas (or ideology) of Kurdish dictators and tyranny. Masud Barzani has been in power for too long and a replacement is needed. As a result, demonstrations have taken place in most of the towns and cities in the south of Kurdistan asking for Masud Barzani to step down from his position of power. The KDP leadership accused the Gorran movement of stirring violence and demonstrations and as a result has expelled Gorran Party ministers from the KRG cabinet and as leader of the Kurdish parliament. Currently the KRG cabinet is not active and the Kurdistan parliament has been dismantled. Observers are asking the President of Kurdistan if the situation is in such a bad state due to these internal and external factors and questioning him as to his reasons for worsening the situation, as well as questioning the benefits he is gaining and whether his motives are to please the Turkish state or the gangs of Daesh. Masud Barzani has used different methods in the past to avoid relinquishing his power and his post. We are now past the stage where the President of Kurdistan would make any difference to the current situation due to his obvious lack of vision. The morale of ordinary citizens in the south of Kurdistan has been lowered to such an extent that all that remains is ongoing uncertainty about the future in the tangled world of the Middle East.

The conclusion should be obvious. The man who has failed to take the KRG into a new stage of the economic and political world is not the best qualified for the job and has caused Kurdish politics to deteriorate and come to a standstill. There is a bitter irony here; Barzani only can survive through the crisis that Kurdistan is currently going through. We must understand that the President of Kurdistan does not want to change his party; he wants to annihilate Kurdish politics and their parliament. The President of Kurdistan and his KDP leaders need to act quickly to resolve the crisis. Firstly, they need to restore the legitimacy of the Kurdistan parliament and the ministers from the KRG cabinet. Secondly, the advisers of the President of Kurdistan need to be brought to trial for wrongly advising the President on several issues including, amongst others, the war on Isis, money and the political crisis.

One of many street protests in the Kurdistan Region in 2015

One of many street protests in the Kurdistan Region in 2015

7 Responses to Kurdish Politics is Locked in the Mismanagement of Masud Barzani Leadership
  1. david Z.
    December 31, 2015 | 06:08

    Finally someone is talking about important issues the Kurdish nation is facing, starting with Mr. Masoud Barzani mismanagement that has harmed the unity of Kurdish nation more than anything else, for more than 4 decades.

  2. Mariwan
    January 1, 2016 | 17:27

    There is not much one single individual is able to gain here. National Unity is key. Remember we have Peshmarga Forces fighting terrorism in battle lines. In stead of criticizing one another in social websites and undermining Kurdistan’s image, Kurdish political parties should get back to negotiating table ASAP before things get behind control.

    My question for author is what difference is Democracy going to make now? Do you really believe replacing President Barzani with someone else is going to change everything overnight.

    As far as the 20 Billion KRG debt is concerned, independently commenting, its not fair to pin the blame on one person or political party here. Where were other major parties and what strategies did they propose to address the problem before it reached the current level

    There is one solution to the ongoing crisis: Peace Agreement which would ensue fair power and wealth sharing in near future, including democratic reforms, accountability, etc.

    Thank you for your insightful article.

    Reply

  3. Bashdar
    January 1, 2016 | 20:27

    Good News: Finally, the Sykes-Picot Agreement has neared its end. Great Kurdistan Golden era is about to begin.

  4. Mansoor
    January 3, 2016 | 21:19

    For sake of Kurdistan Flag, Kurdish political parties: Make Peace.

  5. Rojavan
    January 4, 2016 | 12:31

    The only way to a better tommorow is kurdish unity and the only obstacle to go trough is a sick party(kdp) and its leader M barzani,, mr barzani is krg leader + kdp leader + pesmerga commander its wrong this to much on his plate this why KRG cannot move forward

  6. Dr. Ahmad
    January 4, 2016 | 12:55

    I have been following Kurdistan Parliament speakers Yusuf Mohammad Sadiq views on recent developments, especially from ekurd.net and Sbeiy.com. With all due respects, I do not support his subjective position. I urge him to promote Peace. His is not helping de-escalate the situation at all.

  7. Khalil
    January 5, 2016 | 14:14

    Here is my view I would like to share with all:
    Let all Kurdish veteran leaders retire forever in Southern Kurdistan.

    Let the younger generation of peaceful leaders with no former ties to certain regimes or personal vendettas assume office through democratic elections. Most major pending issues can be easily resolved

    Time for modern tolerant politics.

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