MESOPOTAMIA NEWS “NOT NEW!” : TALABANI’S PARTY GOES TEHRAN

Anti-West, Pro-Iran Remarks by PUK Official Boom on Social Media

Basnews English  – 17/09/2018 – 13:25  – ERBIL — Remarks by a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has recently re-surfaced on the social media, and led to sharp and telling criticisms against his party for the pro-Iranian and anti-west position he takes.

Ahmed Barzanji, a senior adviser to PUK secretary-general, appears at an event in Sulaymaniyah where he gives a speech to mark the Quds Day.

Also known as “Jerusalem Day”, the last Friday of Muslims’ holy month of Ramadan was initiated by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1979. It is intended to support Palestine against Israel.Barzanji, in his remarks, lends total support of his party to Iran, saying that the Quds Day is an opportunity, as intended by Komeini, to unify the world of Islam against “oppressors and invaders”.

The PUK official hails the role of Khomeini in bringing the “Islamic revolution” to a success, and overthrow the former Shah of Iran who was supported by the West.  He expressed agreement with the ideologies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying that the current conflict in the Middle East is a clash between “Good and Evil”.

According to Barzanji, after establishing the PUK, late secretary-general Jalal Talabani put his party in the same front as Khomeini’s, and received support from him. “Our shared front with the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran was based on honesty,” the official said.  The PUK has often been criticised for being under huge influence of Iran since its establishment. The most recent developments which could further prompt this allegation is the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi’s attack against Peshmerga positions in Kirkuk where the forces affiliated with the PUK, under the pressure of a certain PUK internal faction, helped the fall of the Kurdish province to the militias. www.mesop.de