Home > Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK or Yaketi Nishtimani Kurdistan in Kurdish) was a leftist political movement which progressively moved towards the right and has now become a social democratic party. It is a Kurdish Iraqi opposition group led by Jalal Talabani, based in the Kurdish governate of As Sulaymaniyah, in north eastern Iraq.
The PUK has jointly administered northern Iraq (which the Kurds call Kurdistan) with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since the Gulf War. This area is protected by the northern Iraq No-Fly Zone, although the provisional capital of the PUK administered zone was Sulaimaniya (which did not fall above the 36th parallel and was therefore not protected by the northern no fly zone).
The PUK was founded in 1975 after the other major Kurdish party in Iraq, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KUD); the KUD had suffered a major setback after the Algiers Accord and was briefly disbanded. The PUK is a coalition of five separate factions which united under Jalal Talabani, also known as Mam ("Uncle") Jalal; the leading factions were the Komala ("group") and Shorish Geran ("revolution spreaders"). The PUK received grassroots support from urban intellectual Kurds, while those who supported KDP did so out of tribal affiliation.
The leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani, was a prominent member of the Iraqi governing council before the council was disbanded. Dr Barham Salih was formerly the Prime Minister of northeastern Iraq; he is currently the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister. The Minister of Irrigation and the Minister of Planning are also members of the PUK.
Secessionist organizations
