Mariwan Kanie: Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: What unity? What patriotism?

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan: What unity? What patriotism?

Up until the mid-1990's, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK] was a leftist and radical force in Kurdish politics. In both aspects of political/ideological discourse, and organizational structure a vision was present.
Most important of all was that this party belonged to all PUK people; it wasn't the party of any family, clan or a particular faction within the PUK. There was no trace of Sultanism in that party. Even if [Jalal] Talabany, as the head of this party, sometimes acted as a sultan, he was a "sultan without Sultanism" until after the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime. That army of sons, grandsons, brothers, cousins, relatives, etc. didn't exist within PUK and the authorities.

Even though PUK adherents consider [Jalal] Talabani as a sacrosanct and infallible personality, but the fault of creating and consolidating the political Sultanism, which has now become the main characteristic of PUK, is on Talabani himself. PUK is nowadays a disintegrated party, full of rivalries strife and hate, and full of immense greed for wealth, non of which has anything to do with politics that is related to common good. The PUK is in its deeds, has past being a political party, but has rather completely turned into a corporation. And its main shareholders exploit it in a way that is convenient for their benefits and greed. If the rationale of politics is about creating a life of coexistence, peace and freedom, through preserving political, social and cultural pluralism, then the rationale of a corporation is one simple, but scary, principle: making increasingly more profit for its owners without taking into consideration of any moral, humanistic or political principal.

Assaulting a party like Tevger and detaining their cadres and activists; closing Salim movie theater and using force in dealing with any expected or unexpected event, are related to the change I mentioned: the transformation of PUK from a political party to a corporation; an armed corporation. In its current condition, the PUK can't function as a political party. It is rather an armed corporation, steered by what makes profits for its managers, board of directors and shareholders.

— Mariwan Kanie

Source: https://www.facebook.com/mariwankanie/posts/2305235182822159