Iraqi Kurdistan: “Zmin Front” against the president’s party
For a month now, the internal crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan has not subsided. Today, the territory is virtually independent from the government in Baghdad, and its armed forces hold a 600-kilometer front against the Islamic State, having managed to recapture some of the previously captured territory. However, all these successes may be nullified if the political leaders of the Kurds do not find a common language with each other in the very near future.
The local power vertical is headed by President Massoud Barzani and the ruling Kurdish Democratic Party. Barzani's powers expired in August of this year, but power is still in his hands, thanks to the decision of the Shura Council - the traditional "council of elders"? by law, playing only an advisory function. The opponents of the president and the party in power are the Gorran party, the Movement for Change, or, in the Ukrainian manner, the Front of Change, which accuses its opponents of usurping power and the economic crisis that has engulfed Kurdish autonomy.
The consequence of the crisis was delays in the payment of salaries to public sector employees, which gave rise to mass demonstrations and clashes between supporters of opposing political forces. The offices of the KDP in the second largest city of Sulaymaniyah in the autonomy were burned, several people were killed.
At the heart of the economic crisis are disputes with Baghdad over Kurdistan’s share in the federal Budget. The central government blocked payments, and the autonomy tried to survive by exporting oil to Turkey, but the revenue received was not enough. The loss of the oil-rich Mosul region to ISIS's rapid advance last year dealt a major blow to Iraq's budget. At the same time, there is every reason to believe that oil produced from fields controlled by the Caliphate goes to Turkey in transit, including through Iraqi Kurdistan, and local corrupt officials are participating in the scheme.
Northern Iraq as of October 4. Light green – areas controlled by the Kurds, black – IS, red – zone controlled by government troops. Hewler – Erbil
On Monday, in this most successful of the enclaves of Kurdish separatism, events occurred that were reminiscent of the recent change in the leadership of the DPR parliament. The speaker of the regional parliament, Yousif Mohammed, who represents Gorran, and five of his fellow party members were stopped at a checkpoint at the entrance to the capital city of Erbil.
In response, Mohammed's ally, MP Rabun Marouf, made a sharp statement: "We view this as a coup d'etat." To which Barzani’s representative replied that the speaker’s entry into the capital was prohibited “for his own safety.” Twenty years ago, in the mid-90s, there was already a civil war in the Kurdish areas of Iraq between two regional centers, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, and it seems that the situation is close to repeating itself. But 20 years ago there was no IS here.
The armed forces of Iraqi Kurdistan are only nominally united under a common command. Individual field commanders are guided by certain party groups, and the discord among them threatens to have more serious consequences than just another Kurdish civil war.
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