The curse of the Barzani family: From Massoud onward.

[A THREAD]

As a kurd, I cannot sit and watch a traitor steal not only the money but also the future of the kurdish people located in Iraqi Kurdistan.

This thread is intended to be an eye-opener by discussing some of the main critiques.
Lets get to it.

1) Disappearing oil wealth

The Barzanis have been subject to critique due to oil wealth disappearing and the possibility of them profiting from illegal oil smuggling.
Let me provide an example:

In November 2016 it turned out the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) did not mention that up to 36,000,000 barrels of oil went missing in the first six months of 2016. The total amount of money which has therefore gone missing from the regional oil sales amount to $1.2 billion.

2) Inability to pay salaries

Starting around September 2015 the KRG was unable to pay salaries of its citizens due to falling oil prices. The KRG relies heavily on oil income to provide the majority of its funds, this is especially shit when your prez and his family steal it.

In october 2015 protests broke out over this issue. Civil servants, teachers, and peshmarga protested and some reported it had been over four months since they received their salary.
(Sulaimaniyah, 2015)

The KRG had racked up $18 billion in debt by 2016, which further imperiled its ability to pay state workers and security forces.
In the same year WikiLeaks provided documents that stated Barzani received $200 million from the Turkish AK Party to pay peshmarga forces.

3) Questionable wealth

People only made more allegations against the Barzanis when finding out about their massive wealth and purchases.

In 2018 the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported Massoud holds $48 billion worth of bonds, real estate, and investments in Swiss, German, and Italian companies. This was very controversial bc of all the allegations thus Al-Watan issued an apology after Massoud probably told them to.

Speaking of controversiality, in November 2019 the Barzanis spent $47 million on Beverly Hills real estate. This happened after, a month earlier, the US abandoned Rojava and thousands of Kurds were displaced and in need of shelter.

Now you think: “every leader has wealth.” Okay sure, but (1) Where did the oil wealth go? + Where did his billions come from?
(2) Why does he have all this wealth while the people have to go months without salary?

4) Family government

The Barzani family is also subject to critique bc it dominates politics and society to the point where some find the rule to have the characteristics of a hereditary dictatorship.

To illustrate:

- Massoud Barzani was president.
- His nephew, Nechirvan, is currently president.
- His eldest son, Masrour, is prime minister and leads the intelligence service.
- His uncle, Hoshyar Zebari, was Iraq’s foreign minister and finance minister.

- His second son, Mansour, is a general.
- His brother Wajy, is a general.
- His nephew Sirwan owns the regional cell phone company which, while purchased with public money, remains a private holding.

I think that says enough.

5) Limiting freedom of expression

Sardasht Osman (22), Iraqi Kurdish journalist and student from Erbil, was known to frequently critique the Barzanis. He was kidnapped on May 4 2010. After 2 days his body was found in Mosul, handcuffed with two bullets in his head.

They believe Sardasht was specifically targeted after publishing his satirical poem “I am in love with Massoud Barzani’s daughter.”

(English translation: https://ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/5/state3816.htm)

Kamal Qadir, a kurdish legal scholar and human rights activist was arrested in 2005 for defamation, after criticizing Barzani’s government and family. He initially was sentenced to 30 years in prison however was released in 2006 due to international pressure.

Michael Gunter, US academic, was removed from the agenda of the conference titled ‘Iraqi Kurdistan at a Crossroads: Current Issues of Domestic and Middle Eastern Politics’ a day after he critiqued Barzani in 2017. This conference was held at the UKH in Erbil.

6) Hypocrisy

“Switching alliances is part of the Barzani family political culture, intertwining survival and power with Kurdish nationalism.” - Kamal Qadir

In 1992 after long period of hostility towards Turkey, Massoud allied with Ankara in its fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkerên Kurdistan, PKK).

In 1996 when Massoud was the leader of the KDP, he was facing competition from the PUK under Talabani. When the KDP wanted to recapture Erbil from the PUK, Barzani called on Saddam to send troops and help him capture Erbil.

Reminder: This was the same Saddam that ordered a chemical attack on the kurdish city of Halabja in 1988; the Anfal genocide 1986-1989; and, the persecution of Feyli kurds which started in the 1960s. That is who Massoud, a kurd, collaborated with. (Halabja, 1988)

After the 2003 US invasion Barzani positioned himself as an ally to the US. No one knew when they would switch sides again. However, they seem to remain loyal to the US as Nechirvan Barzani met with Trump in January 2020, 3 months after the US abandoned Kurds in Rojava.

This thread is nowhere near complete.
However, it is complete enough for me to highlight some of the reasons why I will never support this family.

Bijî kurd o Kurdistan, bê Barzani
(Long live Kurds and Kurdistan, without Barzani)

[END OF THREAD]