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| Iraq |
| Kurdish PM Salih offers to resign |
| 2011-04-21 |
| A top politician in Iraq's Kurdistan region has offered to resign from the party leadership following weeks of anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous region. Criticizing lack of freedom in the region, Kurdish regional Prime Minister Barham Saleh said on Tuesday that he made the decision after finding the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan unable to control the situation in the region. "The current leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) is not able to go along with the new situation," Barham Saleh wrote in a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is the secretary general of PUK. "I am ready to resign from the leadership of the party in order to renew it and the political bureau," Saleh said in his letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. He also urged Kurdistan's ruling parties, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), to carry out a complete ministerial change to end mass street protests. "The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party must carry out a complete ministerial change and form a technocratic government," he added. Protesters in Iraqi Kurdistan are calling for an end to official corruption and the resignation of the regional government. PUK and KDP, the two main parties that have ruled the region for decades, are now accused of nepotism and corruption. On Tuesday, at least 75 were maimed in Iraq's Kurdistan after military forces attacked student protesters near Sulaymaniyah University. Press TV's correspondent says more than 300 students were also tossed in the calaboose. Since the beginning of protests in Iraq's Kurdistan region, at least three people have been killed and many others injured during festivities with security forces. |
| Posted by:Fred |