Why Bafel Talabani Should Stop Fooling the Kurdish People

By Rebwar Fattah – Activist

There’s a saying: “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” If Bafel Talabani couldn’t keep his promises before forming the government, why should anyone believe he’ll keep them now with a deputy role that amounts to nothing more than carrying the political baggage of the prime minister’s cabinet?

I would say to Talabani, stop repeating dramatic oaths that ring hollow in the ears of a public already let down. Just be honest and say: “We have surrendered to the KDP,” and be done with it. A government has been formed but neither the bag nor the one carrying it has changed.

Reports confirm that the PUK and KDP have nearly finalised their deal: Masrour Barzani stays as Prime Minister, Qubad Talabani as Deputy. It’s being painted as a fresh start but in reality, it’s the same actors, same roles, and same failed script.

The KDP claims Masrour’s previous cabinet was a model of good governance and insists the new one will follow the same line. If that’s true, it’s not a new path it’s a loop. The same political tools repackaged. The same power dynamics, not meant to serve the people, but to suppress them further.

We’ve said it before: elections held in a militarised, authoritarian context won’t deliver change. This government deal proves it. It’s not a reform its recycling.

And just like every election campaign that came before it, this cabinet arrangement is theatre. A tragicomic script where the thieves don’t return the loot, they split it, sign off on the robbery, and flee the scene, leaving the people to pay the price.

They’ve already agreed how to divide the ‘account’ project. Everything else is just formality.

This is not governance. This is betrayal. And no matter how often you reshuffle the cast, if the script stays the same, the story ends with the people losing.