Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Department of History، Humanities College، Sulaymaniyah University، Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Abstract
The events concerning the political arena in South Kurdistan in the late 1980s and early 1990s had a great impact on the relations and conflicts between the political parties in South Kurdistan; it also had an impact on the entire political sphere in South Kurdistan.
The relationships and conflicts between the political parties in particular and the political situation in general in South Kurdistan have changed according to the power, ability, and strength of the political parties. Relations have sometimes been good and sometimes bad to the point of civil war and fratricide. One of the relationships and conflicts in the political arena of South Kurdistan is the relationship and conflict between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) during the years (1994-1998), as the two armed political parties with two different ideologies influenced the political arena of South Kurdistan.
The relationships and conflicts between the two parties have changed over time. After the Turkish military coup in 1980 and the arrival of PKK guerrillas in South Kurdistan in the border areas close to the PDK, from 1981 until the March 1991 uprising in southern Kurdistan, relations between the two sides were friendly. However, relations between the two parties have deteriorated, especially after the withdrawal of Iraqi government institutions from southern Kurdistan in October 1991, the creation of a power vacuum in the border areas, and the increased entry of PKK guerrillas into the borderline regions.
The effect of the PKK's entry was such that it led to the first civil war between the political parties in South Kurdistan (October 1992), between the PKK and the PDK with Partnership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Relations between the two sides remained tense until the outbreak of the civil war between the PUK and the PDK in May 1995 over the PKK, and the conflicts between the PDK and the PKK continued until September 1998.
Keywords
)