Movement for Change (Gorran)

Iraqi Kurdistan Parliamentary Elections in 2009

The Gorran Movement for Change was formed in April 2009, when former Deputy Secretary General of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan Noshirvan Mustafa announced that he would head a separate list in parliamentary elections that was different from all Iraqi Kurdistan's electoral lists. ^[2] . On April 28, the Iraqi High Election Commission recognized the Movement for Change as the official political party of Iraqi Kurdistan. And on August 27, 2009 Gorran was registered to participate in the elections to the Council of Representatives of Iraq. In the electoral struggle, Gorran positioned itself as the "first real opposition" of the KDP and actively opposed corruption, becoming the first secular party in Kurdistan to build a program on anti-corruption rhetoric. ^[3] . In its first election, the Movement for Change received 23.75% of the vote, which provided them with 25 out of 111 possible seats in the Kurdistan Parliament. Experts explain this success with relevant and popular election slogans calling for the fight against corruption in power and the "authoritarian ambitions" of KDP leaders. In addition, even before the creation of the party, N. Mustafa established the Woosha Company media company and the KNN television channel, which was used as a tool for propaganda and communication with voters. ^[3] . The party saw these elections as its victory.

Iraqi Parliament Elections 2010

In the 2010 elections to the Council of Representatives of Iraq, the party received 9 (2.74%) of the 328 possible mandates.

2011 Protests

During the events of the Arab Spring, the Gorran movement became the flagship of protest in Iraqi Kurdistan. So, in January 2011, the movement called on the population to participate in protests similar to those that took place in Tunisia and Egypt, and subsequently directly participated in them. As part of its struggle, the Movement for Change has repeatedly referred to the principle of Gandhi's “non-violent struggle”. “Gorran” in many respects found support among the disillusioned youth of Suleimaniya, which allowed the party to draw public attention to the protest actions it organized in this province.

There is an opinion that the party “played out in democracy”. Indeed, it is precisely the absence of a rigid, in comparison with the KDP, authoritarian system within the PUK that allowed the emergence of the “Movement for Change” in Suleimaniya. And the emergence of a “radical PUK” contributed to weakening the position of the traditional, “old” PUK in relation to the KDP.

At the end of the protests, Gorran reacted very weakly to the government’s repression of the protesters, as the movement wanted to put pressure on the authorities, but did not want to lose its position as a systemic legal political organization. ^[3] .

2013 Election

In 2013, at the next parliamentary election in Iraqi Kurdistan, Gorran overtook the PSK and won 24 seats in the parliament (KDP - 38, PSK - 18). It is interesting that the “Movement for Change” won the maximum support of voters both in Sulaymaniyah, the hometown of the leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani , and in Halabja, a region where Islamist positions are traditionally strong. After summing up the election results, Gorran proposed that the PUK create a parliamentary coalition without the participation of the KDP, but the PUK refused and preferred to unite with the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

New Wave of Protests

In August 2015, the advisory board of Iraqi Kurdistan extended the powers of autonomy president Masoud Barzani for two years, justifying this by the fact that in the context of the war with the Islamic State, it is dangerous to hold a presidential election. In October 2015, a meeting was held between representatives of the KDP, PUK, Gorran, the Islamic Union of Kurdistan (ISK) and the Islamic Group of Kurdistan (IGK). According to the results of the summit of the largest political organizations of the autonomy, no consensus was reached, which led to a new round of protests in the region, and, as a result, the Gorran movement accused of inciting riots lost its ministerial portfolios. Moreover, representatives of the KDP stated ^[4] . on the need to resign from the post of speaker of the Kurdistan parliament - representative of the Gorran party Yusuf Mohammed Sadik. Starting in October 2015, Yu. M. Sadik was unable to come to Erbil to attend parliamentary meetings.

The leadership of Southern Kurdistan has taken a focused course on the marginalization of Gorran. So, on June 15, 2016, the Prosecutor General of Iraqi Kurdistan issued an arrest warrant for N. Mustafa on suspicion of organizing unrest in Erbil . Shortly before the failure of the negotiations in Sulaymaniyah, the head of Gorran left Kurdistan and went to Europe. In the UK, the leader of Gorran was from September 2015 to April 2016 and from September 2016 to May 2017. He was there for cancer treatment. After the deterioration of the health of Noshirvan Mustafa, the popularity of Gorran began to decline, as in many respects it relied solely on the charisma and authority of the leader of the movement.

Death of a Leader and Iraqi Kurdistan Referendum on Independence

On May 19, 2017, at the age of 73, the founder and leader of the movement, Noshirvan Mustafa, died. In July, a congress of the movement was held and Omar Said Ali was elected the new leader. In September, a referendum on the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan (2017) took place . Gorran did not approve of this initiative and boycotted the referendum, because it was not agreed with the parliament. The military confrontation of autonomy with the central government that followed the referendum brought serious problems to Kurdistan: part of the territory was seized by federal forces. including Kirkuk - a rich oil-bearing region that previously belonged to Iraqi Kurdistan and was formerly a strong electoral support of PSK. As a result of the failed secession and the loss of part of the territory and financing, Masoud Barzani resigned from the post of president of Iraqi Kurdistan, which was sought by Gorran and several other political organizations of Kurdistan ^[5] .

The Gorran Movement for Change is opposed to the clan system in the government of Iraqi Kurdistan, against the dominance of corruption in government. The movement stands for genuine, in their opinion, democracy, and a strong people, according to the ideologists of the party, is a free people. ^[6] Gorran stands for the expansion of freedom of speech, freedom of criticism, the separation of parties from the state apparatus, the development of political and culture of citizenship, and the development of civil society. The task is to develop gender equality and increase the role of women in society and the development of local self-government in the provinces. The ultimate goal of Gorran is a democratic constitution, a parliamentary system, and a responsible government.

In the economy “One of the obstacles to reforming and eradicating corruption in the Kurdish region, which by international standards is one of the most corrupt regions in the world, is the lack of transparency and the chaos associated with its legal and economic systems. In addition to the lack of transparency and randomness of the system, state revenue and national wealth are appropriated and wasted. Part of the national budget is hidden or lost. ” ^{[7] The} wealth and natural resources of Kurdistan are national property and should not be appropriated by anyone. It is also necessary to protect the environment and compensate for damage caused to it.

The army and security services should serve the homeland and the people, not their parties, as the Peshmerga KDP and the PUK do. The participation of Kurdish soldiers and officers in the federal armed forces of Iraq is necessary to maintain a balance between the troops in the interests of the Kurdish people.

The executive body "Gorran" consists of the following persons, each of which is responsible for a separate section in the work of the party:

- Omar Saeed Ali, movement leader

- Mohammed Tofig Rahim - responsible for party bodies

- Jamal Haji Mohammed - head of the National Assembly of the movement

- Rauf Osman - Head of the Public Assembly

- Jalal Jawhar - head of the parliamentary faction

- Osman Haji Mahmoud - party offices

- Shorri Haji - Public Affairs

National Assembly

The governing body of the party consists of 44 members. It includes Jamal Mohammed - the head of the Gorran National Assembly, leaders of the factions of the movement in the Iraqi and Kurdish parliaments, directors of the Gorran departments, district officials and representatives who were elected in the internal elections of the movement. ^[eight]

Gorran has great political support among the Kurds, however, according to experts, it cannot influence the policy of the autonomy’s leadership, since it does not have what the KDP and PUK have their own armed formations. ^[1] In 2016, it became known that Gorran, in order to fight corruption and confront the KDP , which concentrated power over almost the entire Peshmerga autonomy, creates its own armed detachments and the PKK helps it in this. It also became known that this process is supported by the Prime Minister of Iraq al-Maliki : “The Shiite leader and former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki supports this idea, therefore, together with the deputies Gorran in Baghdad is working on an agreement according to which future armed forces will be included in the structure Shiite militia Hashid al-Shaabi . " Sources note that this attempt is aimed at legalizing any armed group affiliated with Gorran, as well as providing a source of funding for them. ^{[9] The} cooperation of Gorran and the PKK on this issue means that the apochists will train fighters of the movement, and Gorran will support them with human resources.

• Kurdistan Democratic Party
• Kurdistan Patriotic Union
• Kurdistan Workers Party
• Iraqi Kurdistan