AND THE WINNER IS : KAK KOSRET ?

PUK appoints provisional leadership

23.12.2012 – Kurdistan Tribune – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leadership has issued a statement on the situation inside the party following Jalal Talabani’s recent stroke. This reveals that the PUK Politburo has elected Kosrat Rasul as Acting General Secretary with Barham Salih as his provisional deputy.

The PUK is going through the one of its most difficult phases since the departure of Nawshirwan Mustafa in 2006.  Leading members have been seeking advice and looking for ways to stop the party becoming completely destabilised if Talabani passes away. This latest move is a step in the right direction towards filling the vacuum created by Talabani’s absence.

Kosrat Rasul was born in 1952 and he was imprisoned by the Saddam regime in 1977 for his involvement with the PUK’s secret organisation. He developed a reputation as a well-disciplined military leader in the PUK’s peshmerga forces during the 1980s and was badly injured in 1985. Since 1991, Rasul has held various positions inside the PUK and the Kurdistan Regional Government.