GORRAN : Extension of Barzani’s Term Unconstitutional: Kurdish Opposition Party

By Kawa Hassan – Gorran.  On Sunday, June 30, 213 the Kurdistan parliament extended the president Barzan’s term in office with two years. This extension is illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional.

This is a coup d’état against the democratic process by Barzani family and a small group of the political bureau of PUK that consists of Hero Ahmed (member of political bureau and wife of Talabani), Kosrat Rasoul (first deputy of Talabani), Barham Saleh (second deputy of Talabani) and Mula Baxtiar (the head of management department of political bureau). This coup d’état was executed by Arsalan Bayz (the chairman of the parliament and member of the political bureau of PUK).

This dictatorial decision leads to the establishment of a dictatorial constitution that serves only the interests of Barzani family and the above-mentioned small group of PUK. This dictatorial decision is the beginning of the establishment of a second hand version of the dictatorial constitutions of Asad of Syria, Mubarak of Egypt, Ben Ali of Tunisia and Saleh of Yemen in Kurdistan. As we all know the brave peoples of these countries revolted against and removed the dictators Mubarak, Ben Ali and Saleh, and the Syrian people continues its revolution against the Asad dictatorship. The fates of KDP and PUK will not be better than those of the above-mentioned dictators.

The biggest Kurdish opposition party Gorran, along with the two other opposition parties, Islamic Union and Komali Islami, rejects this dictatorial decision.

We at Gorran don’t accept this coup d’état of KDP and PUK. We will oppose it will all possible peaceful and civilian means.

We at Gorran urgently calls on the international community, European Union, Iraq delegation of the European Parliament, the Dutch foreign ministry, the Dutch parliament, all social democratic parties in the world, the opposition parties in Egypt and Tunisia, as well as civil society and human rights organisations, to condemn this illegal, illegitimate and unconstitutional decision and put maximum pressure on KDP and PUK to immediately cancel this dictatorial decision, organize the elections planned for 21 September in a timely fashion, return the draft constitution to the parliament so that it is further debated and agreed upon by all political parties, and change the current presidential system into a real parliamentary system.

Thank you very much for your kind support for the democratic process in Kurdistan!