ERBIL — The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has taken the first action to block the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from political activities in Sulaymaniyah province.

The move is understood as another attempt to please Turkey and restore the ties between the PUK and Ankara.

According to media reports close to the party, Qubad Talabani, the son of late PUK secretary general Jalal Talabani, who also serves as the deputy prime minister of the Kurdistan Region, has recently ordered the closure of all representation offices of political parties which have not obtained an approval from Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Interior Affairs.

He has ordered the closure of the offices within 24 hours.

The main political party which has established an office in Sulaymaniyah without authorization from KRG’s Interior Ministry is the PKK’s branch office for “southern Kurdistan” or the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Relations between the PKK and Turkish government were faced with difficulties since Turkey halted all flights to Sulaymaniyah airport and expelled the party’s representative from Ankara over PUK’s ties with the PKK.

Bas News