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Kurdistan opposition leader Nawshirwan
responds to speech of Talabani
9.1.2010
By Rebin Khailany
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January 9, 2010
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — The Change (Gorran) list
leader Nawshirwan Mustafa responded to an attack of
the PUK-leader and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani on
the Kurdish opposition website Sbeiy.com with the
article, ‘from struggling together, to calling each
other traitors”.
In October, Talabani criticized Gorran in the fourth
PUK-plenum, a meeting with all important members of
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. Talabani said
during the plenum, that the Gorran leader was
responsible for the civil war, killing Kurdish
civilians and responsible for the chemical bombings
of Halabja that killed thousands of Kurds. He also
argued the Change list leader and former PUK-member
is against Kurdish nationalism and federalism. |
Nawshirwan
Mustafa, the chief of Gorran (Change) movement |
Talabani is not my enemy
Mustafa said that he had heard earlier about the
‘emotional speech’ of the Iraqi president, but that
he responded when the PUK media started publishing
the attacks of Talabani against the Gorran leader.
“It’s sad that after 40 years of friendship and
struggle together the relations between me and
Talabani has worsened, just because we do not work
for the same organization anymore.”
“I have never called Talabani or other Kurdish
politicians traitors or collaborators for the Baath-regime,
while he accuses me and my comrades of saying this.
We think Talabani’s politics are incorrect, but we
do not consider him our enemy. While he forgets 40
years of friendship and joined struggle and accuses
us of treachery and enmity, for losing a few
parliamentary seats to us.”
Who is responsible for
killing Kurds?
Nawshirwan Mustafa also responded to the speech of
Talabani, in which Talabani accused Nawshirwan
Mustafa of killing Kurdish civilians during the
struggle of PUK-peshmerges against the Baath-regime.
“I’m not lying, like others. From the year 1975 to
the year 1991, I am responsible for my actions in
the name of the Kurdish cause. I’m prepared to
answer for my acts towards the Kurdish history and
my responsibility to god.”
“If Talabani accused me and other for killing people
in Kurdish cities and villages, who is responsible
then for killing thousands of Kurds in the periods
of 1961-1975, 1975-1991 and 1991-2001?"
Halabja allegations
Nawshirwan also responded to the allegations of
Talabani about Halabja. “When we spoke and felt
broken and powerless about Halabja, thus in wanting
to liberate Halabja, Talabani said without any
feelings: ‘Halabja has put the Kurdish question
internationally on the map… if there were only two
or three other Halabja’s’.”
Talabani held Nawshirwan responsible for the
chemical bomb attacks by Ali Hassan al-Majid [Newphew
of Sadam Hussen] against Halabja in 1988, because
Nawshirwan Mustafa worked with Iran, despite threats
of Saddam he would bomb the Kurds,www.ekurd.netif
they would work with Iran. But the Change list head
says that all agreements with Iran were signed by
Talabani himself. “The negotiations of the PUK with
the Iraqi government during the Iran-Iraq war
weren’t even finished, when Talabani searched for
contacts with the Iranian government. In October
1986, Talabani signed a military, political and
logistics agreement with Iran, to act as one front
against the Iraqi army.”
‘Talabani fled Kurdistan’
Nawshirwan added, that Talabani fled Kurdistan to
Iran, to escape the threat of Saddam to the Kurds.
“Until the end of the uprising of the people and the
liberation of Iraqi Kurdistan, he was nowhere to be
seen and didn’t return to Kurdistan. After his
return, he shamelessly went to Baghdad to kiss
Saddam Hussein and this was broadcasted on the news
worldwide [in 1991 Talabani signed a peace treaty
with Saddam Hussein].”
Gorran supporters not
traitors
The Gorran-leader also said the 445.000 people who
voted for Gorran aren’t traitors, reacting to the
PUK-leader suggesting that voting for the Change
list is treachery. “Weren’t these people also
traitors when they voted for the PUK? Are all these
people against the KRG [Kurdistan Regional
Government] and the Kurdish cause?”
The PUK-leader also said that Turkmen voted for
Change list. “Talabani says that supporters of the
Turkmen front voted for Listî Gorran. If there is
somebody, who doesn’t have a right to speak about
the Turkmen front,www.ekurd.netit’s
Talabani. He was the one who put flowers on the
grave of Atatürk and said that the a Kurdish state
is a dream in poems. Not me and Gorran supporters,”
referring to Talabani’s visit to Turkey, in which he
stated to the Turkish newspaper Sabah, that a
Kurdish independent state is unrealistic.
Weak memory
Speaking about the upcoming elections, Nawshirwan
Mustafa referred to Talabani’s accusations that
Gorran is against Kurdish nationalism, denying it.
“Talabani says in his publications that Gorran is
against federalism and that we want to make from all
provinces [three provinces] a federal province. He
also says we are against the return of Kirkuk under
the authorities of the Kurdish government. It seems
the memory of Talabani has weakened.” But the Gorran
leader said that the Kurdish people haven’t forgot
about the past.
In the last months, both Nawshirwan Mustafa, who was
one of the most prominent PUK-leaders, and the Iraqi
president Jalal Talabani and secretary-general of
the PUK, attacked each other in the media. The
tensions have increased between the two Kurdish
leaders before the upcoming Iraqi elections in March
and the last elections for the Kurdish parliament in
July 2009.
The KDP-PUK's ruling coalition, known as the
Kurdistani list, won 57% of the vote, forming the
government. The Change list (Gorran) won 25 seats
and became part of the opposition against the two
ruling parties and claims to win around 20 seats
again in the upcoming Iraqi elections
Copyright, respective author or news agency, Sbeiy
com | Rudaw net
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