The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq. The PUK describes its goals as self-determination,human rights,democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq. The PUK is currently under the leadership of Bafel Talabani. The PUK was founded in 1975 by Jalal Talabani,Nawshirwan Mustafa,Fuad Masum,Adel Murad,Ali Askari and Abdul Razaq Feyli. All presidents of Iraq under the 2005 constitution have been from this party.
Jalal Talabani was an Iraqi politician who served as the sixth president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014,as well as the president of the Governing Council of Iraq. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq.
Mustafa Barzani,also known as Mela Mustafa,was a Kurdish leader,general and one of the most prominent political figures in modern Kurdish politics. In 1946,he was chosen as the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to lead the Kurdish revolution against the Kingdom of Iraq. Barzani was the primary political and military leader of the Kurdish revolution until his death in March 1979. He led campaigns of armed insurgency against both the Iraqi and Iranian governments.
Barham Salih is an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the eighth president of Iraq from 2018 to 2022.
Nechirvan Idris Barzani is a Kurdish politician serving as the second President of Kurdistan Region,Iraq. He was elected into office by the Kurdistan Region Parliament in June 2019. Nechirvan Barzani was appointed as Vice President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 2010. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government from March 2007 to August 2009 and March 2012 to May 2019.Nechirvan Barzani is also the founder of the University Of Kurdistan Hewlêr,the region's top ranking university located in Erbil. His rule combines aspects of Kurdish nationalism,national conservatism,economic liberalism,modernism and reforms,reforms in agriculture and women's rights.
The Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK) sometimes referred to simply as the Kurdistan Alliance (KA) is the name of the electoral coalition first presented as a united Kurdish list in the January 2005 election in Iraq. Elections were held simultaneously for the assembly of Kurdistan Region. The Alliance represents a coalition of the two main Kurdish parties,the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
On 19 May 1992 elections were held to the Kurdistan National Assembly,the parliament of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. At the time,the National Assembly had 105 seats,of which 5 were reserved for the Assyrian community. Parties had to achieve more than 7% of the vote to be elected. There were 178 polling stations around the region.
Aref Tayfour is the former Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi National Assembly from 2010 to 2014. He was succeeded by Aram Sheikh Mohammad from the Gorran Movement. A member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party,he was elected to the post by the Assembly on 22 April 2006 and after new legislative elections in 2010 he was re-elected to the post in November 2010. He also served as the Deputy President of the National Assembly under the Iraqi Transitional Government.
The Parliament of Kurdistan,also called the Kurdish Parliament (IKP),is the parliament of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is made up of representatives from the various parties,lists or slates that are elected every four years by the inhabitants of the provinces of Kurdistan Region currently governed by the Kurdistan Regional Government. In 2009 an amendment was applied to the Kurdistan Election Law of the year 1992,and since then the body was referred to as Kurdish Parliament instead of its previous name the Kurdish National Assembly.
The Iraqi Kurdish Civil War was a civil war that took place between rival Kurdish factions in Iraqi Kurdistan during the mid-1990s,mostly between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. Over the course of the conflict,Kurdish factions from Iran and Turkey,as well as Iranian,Iraqi and Turkish forces,were drawn into the fighting,with additional involvement from American forces. Between 35,000 and 40,000 fighters and civilians were killed.
Jawhar Namiq Salim Ismail Darwish Murad Khan;commonly known as Saleme Sorani,,was a political leader and first president of the Kurdistan Parliament. Growing up in a politically engaged family,he developed a strong sense of political awareness from an early age. Throughout his life,he remained dedicated to advocating for Kurdish rights,actively participating in parliamentary debates,leading resistance movements,and authoring publications that shed light on the Kurdish struggle.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party,usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK,is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Government. It was founded in 1946 in Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan. The party states that it combines "democratic values and social justice to form a system whereby everyone in Kurdistan can live on an equal basis with great emphasis given to rights of individuals and freedom of expression."
Ali Askari (1936–1978) was a Kurdish politician,military leader,and revolutionary. He was a prominent leader in Iraqi Kurdistan and his political party was the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
The First Iraqi–Kurdish War also known as Aylul revolts was a major event of the Iraqi–Kurdish conflict,lasting from 1961 until 1970. The struggle was led by Mustafa Barzani,in an attempt to establish an independent Kurdistan. Throughout the 1960s,the uprising escalated into a long war,which failed to resolve despite internal power changes in Iraq. During the war,80% of the Iraqi army was engaged in combat with the Kurds. The war ended with a stalemate in 1970,resulting in between 75,000 to 105,000 casualties. A series of Iraqi–Kurdish negotiations followed the war in an attempt to resolve the conflict. The negotiations led to the Iraqi–Kurdish Autonomy Agreement of 1970.
The Iraqi–Kurdish conflict consists of a series of wars and rebellions by the Kurds against the central authority of Iraq during the 20th century,which began shortly after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and lasting until the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some put the marking point of the conflict beginning to the attempt by Mahmud Barzanji to establish an independent Kingdom of Kurdistan,while others relate to the conflict as only the post-1961 insurrection by the Barzanis. The conflict lasted until the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003,though tensions between the Kurdish autonomy and the central Iraqi government have continued.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria,commonly known as KDPS or PDK-S,is a Kurdish Syrian political party founded in 1957 by Kurdish nationalists in northern Syria. The party is based in Hamburg,Germany and has various branches in France,United Kingdom,Sweden and the United States of America.
The Iraqi Kurds are the second largest ethnic group of Iraq. They traditionally speak Kurdish languages of Sorani,Kurmanji,Feyli and also Gorani.
Salih Al-Yousify was a Kurdish Iraqi poet and politician,former minister,and one of the most active members in the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq.
The 1967 Kurdish revolt in Iran erupted in March 1967,as part of the long-running Iranian-Kurdish conflict. Abrahamian describes the revolt as a Marxist insurgency with the aim of establishing autonomy for Kurds in Iran,modeled as a federal republic. The revolt,consolidating several tribal uprisings which had begun in 1966,was inspired by the First Iraqi–Kurdish War in neighboring Iraq and enjoyed the support of the recovering Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran,previously crushed during the 1946 Iran crisis. The 1967 revolt,coordinated into a semi-organized campaign in the Mahabad-Urumiya region by the revived KDPI party,was entirely subdued by the central Iranian government.
Parliamentary elections took place in Kurdistan Region on 30 September 2018 to elect Parliament. The election came a year after a failed bid for independence and left the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with 45 seats,that positioning it to lead the next regional government. Announcement of the results was delayed for three weeks. The KDP's historic rival and junior coalition partner in government,the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK),was in second place with 21 seats. The results suggest that Masoud Barzani’s KDP will take a dominant position in Kurdish politics.
