PUK politburo held a regular meeting about the current health and political situation in Kurdistan Region and Iraq, under the supervision of PUK co-leader Lahur Sheikh Jangi, on Thursday Apr 16, in Slemani.
Following the meeting, PUK political bureau issued a statement.
"At a time the citizens of the region and the world confronting the threats of coronavirus and while everyone is concerned with fear and anxiety about the health, economic and social consequences of these difficult circumstances, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan has provided all its institutions and capabilities to support administrative units and the Kurdistan Regional government.
During this particular time, and instead of easing the citizens psychologically and providing their needs, unfortunately we see a trend within the Kurdistan Democratic Party that attacks the PUK and its new leadership with different arguments and according to a studied program, and these attacks were repeated several times. It began with arresting a number of our comrades from the families of the martyrs of the PUK then fabricating a confrontation between two security institutions affiliated with the government and the presidency of the Kurdistan Region, and accusing the PUK with false accusations, it got to a point where they brought and deployed a forces from the Peshmerga to a safe area such as Zini Warte under the pretext of controlling the spread of the Corona epidemic, in addition to depriving the governorates of Slemani Halabja, and the Garmian and Raparin administrations from grants allocated to fight the coronavirus." The statement said.
"The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan from the perspective of feeling responsible and the sensitivity of the current conditions, has practiced restraint, and calls the President of the Kurdistan Region, as the General Commander of the Peshmerga Forces of Kurdistan, to issue an immediate decision to withdraw the deployed forces in Zini Warte to calm the stress and fear that has generated in the minds people of the area and hand over the security conditions to the local Asayish security forces, and we also demand the Kurdistan Workers' Party to remove its forces from the region, in order to maintain security and law, and to protect the lives and property of citizens without giving excuses." The statement pointed out.
Moreover, the PUK politburo called on the Kurdistan Regional Government to address the problems faced by citizens and provide their needs, particularly the needy families.
"We announce that the new leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is not with any military or media escalation in order to protect the interests of our people, and we will be as we have always been part of the solution and we will never allow the situation to worsen in any way." The statement reiterated.
On the other hand, PUK politburo discussed the situations in the areas of Kirkuk, Mosul, Khanaqin, Khurmatu, Makhmur and Kulajo, and as everyone knows "the security and military conditions in those areas are not in good conditions, and because of the government's busy involvement in confronting the coronavirus, security gaps has been formed in the region, which ISIS has exploited by implementing terrorist operations, and this led to the martyrdom and injury of a number of Peshmerga forces, the army, and innocent citizens and farmers, so we stress the need for the Iraqi Fedral Government and above all, the Commander in Chief of the Iraqi armed forces, to quickly review the conditions and coordinate with the Peshmerga forces, the army and the rest of other security forces," the statement added.