The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is one of the largest political parties in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The party is one of the two partners in the current governing coalition, the other being the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). The PUK was founded after the end a Kurdish revolution in 1975 against the Iraqi regime by a group of Kurdish intellectuals and political leaders separating from the dominant KDP party. The PUK’s main founders included Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum, Kamal Fuad, Adel Murad, and Abdulrazaq al Faili. The PUK was positioned as a more left-leaning nationalist group than the KDP, unifying social-democratic and Marxist groups under a broad banner, filling the power vacuum left in Northern Iraq after 1975. The union promoted a vision of Kurdish nationalism espoused through a framework of social democracy and human rights. PUK Peshmerga forces fought the Iraqi dictatorship from 1975 until 2003. Following the death of long-time leader Jalal Talabani in 2017, the party has been led by acting secretary-general, Kosrat Rasul Ali, a former Peshmerga commander.
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)
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