Overlooked ‘Kurdish Spring’ Also in Danger

Maria Fantappie, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, in a piece for the Los Angeles Times’ Babylon & Beyond blog, writes that the wave of protests across the Arab world is also having an effect in Iraqi Kurdistan.  Although protests have erupted in the Arab areas of Iraq over a variety of issues, Fantappie states that the Kurdish protests have focused on popular youth discontent with the traditional Kurdish leadership split between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).  Kurdish youth, she says, has spent most of the past 20 years watching the two parties fight amongst each other for political control, “prioritizing parochial interests over the national good. “   Fantappie says that ministries within the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) have remained split between the two parties as have the rival wings of the Peshmerga forces.  Rampant party cronyism has led to a 35-45% unemployment rate amongst Kurdish youth.

The popular demonstrations that broke out in Sulaimaniya in February and have continued over the past two months, have made both parties extremely vulnerable.  Cabinet reshuffles have been promised, corruption commissions established, and clamp downs on protests have become routine.  Opposition parties, including Islamist parties, will look to gain from the declining popularity from the KDP and PUK in upcoming September provincial elections.  However, as has happened elsewhere in the Middle East, Fantappie warns that the popular youth movement has struggled to organize itself politically beyond protests and may be swallowed up by official opposition parties that may as corrupt as the traditional Kurdish leadership.