6 Kurdish Parties Form United Front to Seek Autonomy
Six Kurdish political parties have formed a united front to campaign for an autonomous homeland in northern Iraq, the coalition announced Friday.
The front consists of all Kurdish parties that have been battling the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and it seeks recognition of “Kurdish national rights based on a voluntary union,” the newly formed front announced.
The new coalition is meant “to strengthen the unity of our struggle and escalate resistance in Iraqi Kurdistan in the face of the war of genocide that the Iraqi regime is waging against the Kurdish population,” an announcement said.
The Kurds’ fight for autonomy, backed by Iran, has created a second front in the northern mountains of Iraq in the 7 1/2-year-old war between Iran and Iraq.
The Kurdish struggle has forced the Baghdad government to divert tens of thousands of troops from the main battlefields.
The main members of the new union are the Kurdish Democratic Party, led by Massoud Barzani, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, led by Jalal Talebani.
It also includes four smaller parties, the Socialist Party of Kurdistan, the Popular Democratic Party of Kurdistan, the Kurdish Socialist Party and the Iraq Communist Party, which is dominated by Kurds.
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