MESOP : SA’DI AHMED PIRA (PUK) PREVIOUSLY FOR MANY YEARS ON SADDAM HUSSEIN’S PAYROLL NOW IN FAVOR OF TEHRAN

Iran in Contact with PUK as a Mediator: Official – Iran is playing an intermediary role between the conflicting factions

Basnews English – 3 Sept 2016 -SULAYMANIYAH — The Iranian government has started an attempt to mediate between the conflicted factions within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), but a delegation from Tehran is yet to arrive in Sulaymaniyah, said a senior PUK official.During a seminar on Saturday, PUK politburo member Sa’di Ahmed Pira fiercely criticized the establishment of a ‘decision-making body’ within his party by the two secretary-general deputies, labeling the approach as “illegitimate”.

Pira confirmed that Iran, Turkey and the US are in contact with them since Friday, to find a solution to the escalating political tensions, but no Iranian delegation has yet arrived in Sulaymaniyah.According to the official, PUK is now struggling to hold a meeting of the party’s leadership in hopes of discussing the disputes and settling down the mounting tensions. Late on Thursday, PUK deputies, Kosrat Rasoul and Barham Salih, backed by a number of politburo and other leading members, established a ‘decision-making body’ to confront what they called “monopoly” of authority by the influential faction. However, Hero Ibrahim, a PUK politburo member and spouse of the secretary-general Jalal Talabani, slammed the approach, saying that the newly-established body is not “legitimate”. Ibrahim is leading PUK’s influential faction. www.mesop.de