The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) (est 1975) (Kurdish: Yakêtî Nîştimanî Kurdistan)

Mission

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has been working for self-determination, human rights, democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Iraq, since its establishment on 1 June 1975.

Leadership

The Secretary General is Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President. Nawshirwan Mustafa is the deputy Secretary General. The PUK's policy and decision making body also lies within the Politburo, the aim of this is to achieve a Pulralistic power structure.

History

The PUK was a coalition of five separate political entities that united under the leadership of Jalal Talabani also known to Kurds as Mam ("Uncle") Jalal and Nawshirwan Mustafa; the leading factions were Komala Ranjdarani Kurdistan ("The League") and Shorish Geran ("revolution spreaders").

The PUK received grassroots support from the urban intellectual classes of Iraqi Kurdistan upon its establishment, this was partly due to 13 of its 15 founding members being PhD holders and academics. Originally, the party was a leftist political movement which has progressively moved towards the centre ground and has now become a social democratic party and an associate member of Socialist International.

In the early 1980's the PUK evolved and broadened its appeal to all sections of Kurdish society especially the rural classes . The regional Kurdish assembly elections showed that the PUK's support lies predominantly in the southern area of Iraqi Kurdistan. Since the first Persian Gulf War, the PUK has jointly administered northern Iraqi Kurdistan with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Recent activities

The PUK joined with the KDP and smaller parties to form the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan as an umbrella group contesting the Iraqi National Assembly election, 2005. This unified Kurdish list gained 25.6% of the vote on the first democratic Iraqi elections on 31 January 2005. Jalal Talabani is now the president of the republic of Iraq.

This was followed by the decision in January 2006, to form an alliance with the KDP and run Iraqi Kurdistan under a unified administration. ^*

See also

• Kurdistan

Kurdish organisations | Political parties in Iraq | Socialist International

الاتحاد الوطني الكردستاني | Patriotische Union Kurdistans | Kurdistani Patriootlik Liit | اتحادیه میهنی کردستان | Union patriotique du Kurdistan | Yekîtiya Nîştimaniya Kurdistan | Irako Kurdistano patriotinė sąjunga | クルド愛国同盟 | Patriotyczna Unia Kurdystanu