Abbreviation PÇDK Political position Left-Wing | Founded 2002 International affiliation Koma Civakên Kurdistan | |
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Leader Diyar Garip
Necibe Ömer Ideology Democratic socialism,
Libertarian socialism,
Kurdish nationalism,
Feminism,
Eco-socialism,
Social ecology,
Democratic Confederalism,
Communalism | ||
The Kurdistan Democratic Solution Party (Kurdish: Partî Çareserî Dîmukratî Kurdistan, پارتی چارەسەری دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as PÇDK, is a party active in Iraqi Kurdistan (South Kurdistan), founded in 2002. As a member of the Kurdistan Communities Union or KCK (Kurdish: Koma Civakên Kurdistan), it is seen as the Iraqi Kurdish branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
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However, it was never as successful as its siblings, the PKK in Turkey and the PYD in Syria. The KDP even closed its headquarters and the party was banned from the Kurdish Regional Government, but it continued to operate.
In 2005 as well as in 2009 the party took part in the parliamentary elections of Kurdistan but failed to win any seat.
The party participated in the parliamentary elections of Iraqi Kurdistan held on 21 September 2013, having had 3,605 votes (0.18%, no representatives elected). In the forefront of the elections they had been denied a license to operate due to stressing from Turkey, but in the end they were able to take part in the elections.
On 20 May 2014, members had been taken into custody by security forces of the KDP, the ruling party of Iraqi Kurdistan during operations against diverse organisations in the cities of Erbil, Dohuk and Zakho. The operations were justified by a prohibition of the party some days before. Reason for the prohibition was a demonstration in front of the Kurdish Regional Government's parliament organised by the PÇDK to remember the massacre of Erbil in 1997, where 62 members of the PKK were murdered.
Positions
As Feminism is a part of the party's ideology, it had the highest number of female candidates of all parties in Iraqi Kurdistan during the parliamentary elections in 2013. According to the director of the election office of the PÇDK, Hassan Judi it's one of the major goals that women's participation is not under 50%. In 2013, the party’s list was headed by a woman, Najiba Mahmood.
Even if the party denies that it's a front organisation for the PKK-fighters, it admits a shared ideology. The central person in the leftist kurdish movement of the PKK and offshoots is Abdullah Öcalan. Historically a marxist organisation, the party re-evaluated its ideology with the end of the Soviet Union. Today the party is amongst other influences democratic socialistic and follows as the PKK the works of Abdullah Öcalan.
International relations
Although the PKK is seen as a terrorist organisation in the USA, the PÇDK is pro-American. "We used to consider the U.S. as the greatest of all imperialist powers. We were a Marxist organization dedicated to a socialist future. But after the Soviet Union collapsed we began a process of re-evaluating Marxism, and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan indeed wrote several books on this subject." said the former leader of the party, Fayaq Golpi. He added, that "In an era of globalization, you cannot ignore realties. We then went for democracy and federalism instead. After the liberation of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussain, so many things changed-especially the issue of the USA."
The relations with Turkey are very bad, since there are many ties between PKK and the PÇDK. Fearing that the PÇDK could be able to gain power in Iraqi Kurdistan and turning the land even more into a stronghold of the PKK - for now, the PKK operates mainly in the Kandil mountains and at the front against ISIL- the Turkish government pushed the KRG to prevent a rise of the PÇDK, which led to lacking licenses during elections and the resolution of the party's headquarters.
The PÇDK in contrary accused the Turkey and the AKP in a statement at the end of 2011 of a planned massacre of the Kurdish People using chemical and prohibited weapons and fighting without any ethic principles. The party also criticized that "international communities, institutions and so-called democratic states have been silent in the face of it." Also they appealed to the Peshmerga forces to accomplish their national duty and protect the Kurds in Turkey from being massacred.