Anger spreads turmoil and riots in Kurdistan

Halabja, in the south of the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan, is an impoverished town still bearing the marks of the chemical attack carried out by Saddam Hussein's air force the 16/03/1988. It is there that in 2006, street protests against the misrule of ruling party Patriotic Union of Kurdistan culminated in the burning of the monument offered to the town by the PUK leader Jalal Talabani. Since, there is a heavy security presence in the town. The Asayish, the militarised force of the internal security directorate, are everywhere, in front of every official building or administrative service, reflecting the authorities' fear of a re-edition of the 2006 riots.

But despite this heavy security presence it is there that Rauf Zarayani, a former peshmerga who fought against Saddam Hussein, was assassinated in broad daylight.
It was around 16:00 the 25/12/2009 when a white BMW stopped in front of his house and that a man get out with a handgun. Rauf Zarayani didn't lose the reflex acquired during his years of struggle: some witnesses alleged he seized his own handgun and tried to fire at his aggressor. But the weapon misfired and the killer shot Rauf Zarayani four times, killing him.

At his funerals, the day after, were present some prominent figures of the Goran opposition movement including general mam Rostam, who knew the victim from the war against Saddam Hussein.
For Rauf Zarayani was himself a Goran activist, and people say it is the reason for his murder.

Goran is a movement created by Nerchirvan Mustapha, formerly PUK's n*2. The formation recruits mainly amongst PUK members dissatisfied with the party's corruption, and its reformist agenda made it hugely popular amongst the population. Its unexpected good results during the july 2009 provincial elections made it target number one for the PUK leadership, afraid to lose its grip on his fiefdom of Sulaimaniya governorate. In the months following the elections, there has been beatings, and even a botched abduction attempt, against Goran members or journalists critical of the PUK.
In this context, the responsibility for Rauf Zarayani's murder has been attributed to the PUK. A police source said that a witness was able to write the registration number of the killers' vehicle and to transmit it to Halabja's police. From this clue, a suspect was identified in Kirkuk, a town outside the autonomous Kurdistan jurisdiction but claimed by the Kurds, where the PUK is very influential. But, still accordingly to this police source, the alleged gunman couldn't be arrested, for there wasn't any evidence to produce against him. He was so let free. It is widely believed this man is actually a member of a PUK secret services - the Dezgay Zanyari - assassination squad.
And there is ground to give to this rumour. Kurdmedia.net, a London based information website, reported on the 18/11/2009 that the PUK asayish established a section, the "Lijney Mutabaa", to harass political dissidents. A Goran member, Dara Tofiq Agha, was himself attacked in early november with metal bars. Anonymous sources from inside the asayish assert that the perpetrators were members of the anti-terrorist team, originally trained by the americans, which is under the direct orders of Bavel Talabani, mam Jalal's son.

These kind of attacks appear to have increased recently, reflecting the present anxiety of the PUK leadership about the coming Iraqi national elections, perceived as decisive inside Kurdistan and likely to seal the fate of the PUK.

In the same time, at Piramagrun, one of those towns established along Kurdistan's roads to harbour the Kurds chased from their mountain villages by Saddam Hussein's troops and where they were conveniently maintained at the mercy of any retaliation raid by the Iraqi army, saw its residents take to the street in defiance of the PUK authority. It was the worst unrest in the Kurdistan region since the Halabja demonstrations in 2006 and, in a striking parallel, were motivated by the poor amenities and the lack of services.
A KNN TV report made in november was showing the poor conditions in the township, so when the PUK appointed mayor Awat Tofiq (no relation to Dara Tofiq Agha) recently said during a TV interview that Piramagrun people were "blind" and were unaware of the progresses made in the town, outrage spread amongst inhabitants.
The day after, 23/12/2009, a crowd gathered in front of the municipality building, demanding the mayor and his team's resignation and that they leave the town. Some officials were beaten, and then the demonstrators set a roadblock on the artery Sulaimaniya-Duhkan. Some police reinforcement called from Sulaimaniya fired in the air to disperse the demonstrators, but had to withdraw while the rioters set two police vehicles on fire.
In the evening, asayish and peshmergas seized control of the town, amongst fear that they would conduct house-to-house search under the cover of the night. The outcome of the riots left dozens of injured and official buidings vandalised. Two asayish working at Sulaimaniya who were off duty and took part to the unrest were arrested. Some protesters went to hide in mountain villages by fear of being arrested too, and in the mosques, the mollahs condemned in advance any arrest the police would make.

But nothing happened. Once they were sure the protests wouldn't resume, the asayish and the troops withdrew, and the situation came back to normality: derelict infrastructure, supply shortage, and a PUK-appointed mayor, as a replacement to the previous one. From the outside, it looks as if nothing happened. The township remains as neglected as before, and the residents are under the rule of an official they didn't elect.
But dissatisfaction is growing. In Said Sadeq, a town outside Halabja suffering the same kind of problems that in Piramagrun, 100 plots of land were given to PUK members in Mosul. The population, angry to see their assets given to party henchmen, decided to organise a protest. But the demonstration, supposed to take place on the 29, was cancelled on the orders of the asayish. During the night before some troop movements were observed to protect the residence of Jalal Talabani outside Sulaimaniya.

There is so a fear amongst the PUK leadership to see the riots amplify as larger protests, and ultimately lead to the Patriotic Union's hold on Kurdistan to be broken. A scenario similar to the contestation in former Soviet Union republics, with a regime change like in Georgia or Ukrain, becomes more and more of a possibility.
As a result, one can expect the Patriotic Union to rely more and more heavily on the security forces to keep its control on Kurdistan.