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104-523: Puk or PUK may refer to: Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), an Iraqi-Kurdish political party in Iraqi Kurdistan; PIN unlock key , code for resetting the personal identification number on mobile devices; Buk (puk), a traditional Korean drum. A. J. Puk , American baseball player Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with

208-460: A vanguard party together with popular participation from the toiler masses. Major policies in the "Arab road to socialism" included: The nationalization of the major branches of the economy with the participation of the toiling masses in the management of the economy, and for the creation of collective farms to effect the revolution necessary for the peasants...the Congress stipulated that

312-570: A Ba'athist state led to considerable ideological discussion and internal struggle within the party. The Iraqi Regional Branch was increasingly dominated by self-described Marxist Ali Salih al-Sa'di . Al-Sa'di was supported in his ideological reorientation by Hammud al-Shufi , the Regional Secretary of the Syrian Regional Branch; Yasin al-Hafiz, one of the party's few ideological theorists; and by certain members of

416-599: A broad cross-section of Kurdish society. The membership of the PUK, based on statistics compiled in September 1998, stands at 800,280 members and associates. The PUK contested the 1992 elections for the Kurdistan National Assembly , and the party list acquired 423,682 votes of the total of 957,469 valid votes cast - giving the PUK commanding majority in three of Kurdistan Region 's four provinces. The PUK

520-460: A comprehensive theory. While the documents says Arab unity is progressive, the reason for it being important changed. The document stated: "Arab unity is an indispensable basis for the construction of a socialist economy ." Aflaq also believed that Arab unity was only an intermediate goal, but it stood at the centre of classical Ba'athism. In the Points of Departure , despite not firmly stating it,

624-501: A deep following in rural areas. In fact, at the party's founding congress, only one peasant and one worker were present among the 217 delegates. Most of the delegates were either school teacher or students attending universities. When Akram al-Hawrani 's Arab Socialist Party (ASP) merged with the Ba'ath Party, the majority of ASP members of peasant origin did not join the Ba'ath Party, instead becoming personal followers of Hawrani. However,

728-894: A large force to drive Ahmad, Talabani, and their 4,000 or so followers into exile in Iran. With this, Mulla Mustafa had finally achieved undisputed control of the KDP. After the defeat of the Kurds in the 1974–1975 Revolt , on 22 May 1975, Talabani met in a coffee shop called Gligla, in Aum Rmana , Damascus , with Fuad Mausm, Adel Murad , and Abdul Razaq Faily. That day, the PUK announced its formation via Syrian and Lebanese media. The day after, Talabani visited Berlin in West Germany and met three other co-founders, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Omar Shekhmus, and Kamal Fwad, and some other activists. On 1 June 1975,

832-415: A leading party figure and when the "transitional Ba'athists" took power. Of the four members in the 1st Executive Committee, Wahib al-Ghanim was the only one who paid much attention to the problems of peasants and workers, as the other members (Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar and Jalil al-Sayyide) had a middle class upbringing and upheld middle class values. The early party organization never cultivated

936-574: A long-term guerrilla war. Arif threatened force against any Kurdish opponent of Mustafa, while Mustafa declared that any resistance to Baghdad would constitute a declaration of war against himself and the Barzanis. Ibrahim Ahmad and Jalal Talabani decried this complicity, and as they saw it, submission, to Baghdad. Mulla Mustafa rallied the conservatives and tribal leaders to his side. Furious debates and campaigning followed, but Ahmad's and Talabani's arguments could not dislodge Mulla Mustafa's position as

1040-409: A majority of Shia Muslims, as Rikabi recruited supporters mainly from his friends and family, but slowly became Sunni dominated. The Regional Branch, and other parties of pan-Arab inclination, had difficulties in recruiting Shia members. Most Shi'ites considered pan-Arab ideology as a Sunni project, since the majority of Arabs are Sunnis. At the time of 14 July Revolution in 1958, which overthrew

1144-495: A moderate socialist for most of his life, called for the renunciation of Arab socialism in 1963 and the adoption of a "virtually Marxist concept of socialism" by claiming that class struggle was the moving force in society. Hammud al-Shufi became the leader of the party's Marxist faction during his short stint as Syrian Regional Secretary, literally the head of the Syrian Regional Organization. Shufi

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1248-548: A nominal leadership role, but the National Command as a whole came under the control of the radicals. In 1963, the Ba'ath Party seized power in Syria, and from then on the Ba'ath functioned as the only officially recognized Syrian political party, but factionalism and splintering within the party led to a succession of varying governments and new constitutions. On 23 February 1966, a coup d'état led by Salah Jadid ,

1352-470: A periodical Congress." Some sub-branches were independent of central authority and elected their own Command and secretaries, while other sub-branches were incorporated into the branches. In the latter case, the sub-branch secretary would be appointed by the superior branch. A section , which comprised two to five divisions, functioned at the level of a large city quarter, a town, or a rural district. It elected its own command, composed of five members, but

1456-659: A persistent problem for him during his election campaign was the vocal criticism of him and the Regional Branch by the Lebanese Communist Party . In Tripoli the Communists supported the candidacy of Rashid Karami , to ensure themselves of a Regional Branch victory. On 17 July 1961 a group of rival Ba'athists led by Rimawi opened fire on several of the Regional Branch's members. During the UAR years,

1560-641: A public administration. The Military Organization was made up of branches similar to those in the Ba'ath's civilian sector. However, unlike the civilian sector, the Military Organization was controlled by a separate Military Bureau and held periodical Military Congresses. The Military Organization and the Civilian Organization converged at the Regional Congress. There existed three types of membership categories in

1664-635: A result of a series of meetings within the cadres of the Aylul Revolution who took refuge in Iran in 1975, including Omer Dababa, Ali Askari , Dr. Khalid, Ali Hazhar, Kardo Galali, Ibrahim Ahmad , Jamal Agha, Rasul Mamand, Mala Nasih, Abdulrahman Gomashini, Milazm Tahir, Ali Wali and Kamal Mihedeen. The PUK served as an umbrella organization unifying various trends within the Kurdish political movement in Iraq . The PUK received grassroots support from

1768-421: A way to recruit into the party many petty bourgeois elements. The document called for nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy, the slow incorporation of the petty bourgeoisie into the socialist economy and the elimination of the national bourgeoisie and its allied classes. To safeguard the party from evolving into one supporting state capitalism , the socialist economy would be controlled by

1872-825: Is a member of the Socialist International . Kosrat Rasul Ali was elected as the leader of the Supreme Political Council at the party congress in December 2019 and Lahur Talabany and Bafel Talabany were elected as Co-Presidents in February 2020 to lead the party. The PUK's structure consists of 8 bureaus: Parliamentary election Parliamentary election جەلال تاڵەبانی (1933–2017) 2006 2010 فواد مەعسووم (born 1938) بەرهەم ساڵح (born 1960) لەتیف رەشید (born 1944) (Term expires October 2025) Ba%27ath Party The party

1976-549: Is a political party active in Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories in Iraq . The PUK describes its goals as self-determination , human rights , democracy and peace for the Kurdish people of Kurdistan and Iraq . The PUK is currently under the leadership of Bafel Talabani . The PUK was founded in 1975 by Jalal Talabani , Nawshirwan Mustafa , Fuad Masum , Adel Murad , Ali Askari and Abdul Razaq Feyli Dawood Mohammed Ali . All presidents of Iraq under

2080-445: Is that the branch was established in 1948 by Rikabi and Sa'dun Hamadi, a Shia Muslim . However, Efraim Karsh and Inari Rautsi contend that the Regional Branch was established in the 1940s, but that it received official recognition as a Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party in 1952 by the National Command. What is certain is that Rikabi was elected the Regional Branch's first Regional Secretary in 1952. The party initially consisted of

2184-418: The de jure father of Ba'athist thought. The organizational structure of the Ba'ath Party was created at the 2nd National Congress (1954) by amending the party's Internal Regulations ( An-Nidhāmu-d-Dākhilī ), which had been previously approved at the party's 1st National Congress (1947). The organizational structure ran from top to bottom, and members were forbidden to initiate contacts between groups on

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2288-500: The 1963 Syrian coup d'état . A power struggle quickly developed between the civilian faction led by ʿAflaq, al-Bitar, and Munīf ar-Razzāz and the Military Committee led by Salah Jadid and Hafez al-Assad . As relations between the two factions deteriorated, the Military Committee initiated the 1966 Syrian coup d'état , which ousted the National Command led by al-Razzāz, ʿAflaq, and their supporters. The 1966 coup split

2392-538: The Hashemite monarchy , the Regional Branch had 300 members. The Iraqi Regional Branch supported Abd al-Karim Qasim 's rule on the grounds that he would seek Iraq's entry into the United Arab Republic . Of the 16-members of Qasim's cabinet, 12 of them were Regional Branch members. After taking power, Qasim changed his position on the UAR, reverting to the old "Iraq first policy". This turn displeased

2496-650: The Syrian Regional Branch . Other regional branches were established throughout the Arab world in the later 1940s and early 1950s, in, among others, Iraq , Yemen and Jordan . Throughout its existence, the National Command (the body responsible for all-Arab affairs) gave most attention to Syrian affairs. The 2nd National Congress was convened in June 1954 and elected a seven-man National Command; Aflaq, Bitar, and Akram al-Hawrani were elected and represented

2600-720: The UAR , the Baʿth Party was reconstituted. However, during the UAR period, military activists had established the Military Committee that took control of the Baʿath Party away from civilian hands. In the meantime, in Iraq, the local Ba'ath Party branch had taken power by orchestrating and leading the Ramadan Revolution , only to lose power a couple of months later . The Military Committee, with Aflaq's consent, took power in Syria in

2704-586: The 1951 elections, was imprisoned by the authorities because his views were deemed to radical. Less than a month before the election day, the British Embassy in Amman had estimated that Shuqyar would gain an easy victory. However, because of the undemocratic nature of the election, Shuqyar was not elected. As voting patterns would prove, voters who voted for Ba'athist candidates lived in Irbid and Amman on

2808-715: The 2005 constitution have been from this party. The PUK traces its political heritage to Sulaymaniyah native Ibrahim Ahmad . After the collapse of the Soviet-backed Kurdish Mahabad Republic in Iran in early 1947, Ibrahim Ahmad , previously the Sulaymaniyah representative of the Iranian KDP ( KDP-I ), joined the newly formed Iraqi KDP . Ahmad was a highly influential leftist intellectual, who by 1951 had succeeded in rallying most of

2912-601: The 2nd Regional Congress was held, this time in Abdallah Na'was' home. It elected a Regional Command and appointed Rimawi as the branch's Regional Secretary. Shugyar, Gharbiyah and Na'was agreed to serve in the Regional Branch's Central Committee. Rimawi and Na'was, his deputy, would prove effective leaders. Shortly after the 2nd Regional Congress, the branch launched a successful recruitment campaign in Jordanian and Palestinian neighbourhoods and cities. On 28 August 1956

3016-486: The 3rd National Congress, held 27 August–1 September 1959, attended by delegates from Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, South Arabia, the Gulf, "Arab South", "Arab Maghreb", Palestine, and Party student organisations in Arab and other universities. The congress is notable for endorsing the dissolution of the Syrian Regional Branch, which had been decided by Aflaq and Bitar without inner-party consultation in 1958, and for expelling Rimawi,

3120-652: The Ba'ath Party between the Iraqi-dominated Ba'ath Party and the Syrian-dominated Ba'ath Party . The party was founded on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Ba'ath Party by Michel Aflaq (an Antiochian Orthodox Christian ), Salah al-Din al-Bitar (a Sunni Muslim ), and the followers of Zaki al-Arsuzi (an Alawite who later became an atheist) in Damascus , Syria, leading to the establishment of

3224-567: The Ba'ath Party tried to assassinate Qasim in February 1959, but the operation, involving a young Saddam Hussein , failed. Qasim was overthrown in the Ramadan Revolution led by young Ba'athist officer Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr ; long suspected to be supported by the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), however pertinent contemporary documents relating to the CIA's operations in Iraq have remained classified by

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3328-438: The Ba'ath Party was put in a difficult position, as the party still sought Arab unity but did not oppose the UAR's dissolution and did not want to seek another union with Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser 's rule. However, being the unionist party that it was, the party's leaders could not state their position on this issue. The end result was that the pro-Arab nationalists within the Ba'ath Party became committed Nasserists , while

3432-650: The Ba'ath Party, at least in theory, would rule, and guide the people, in a transitional period of time without consulting the people, however he did support intra-party democracy. The last tenet, 'socialism', did not mean socialism as defined in the West, but rather a unique form of Arab socialism . According to Ba'athist thought, socialism had originated under the rule of the Prophet Muhammad . The original interpretation of Arab socialism did not answer questions regarding economic equality or how much state control

3536-605: The Ba'ath Party: Active member (Arabic: udw ämil ), Apprentice Member (Arabic: udw mutadarrib ) and Supporter (Arabic: firqa ). An Active member had to attend all formal meetings of his party unit, was given the right to vote in party elections, and could run for party office. In the Syrian Regional Branch, a member had to spend 18 months as a Supporter to be promoted to Apprentice status, and then wait another 18 months to be promoted to Active member status. For more than 2 decades, Michel Aflaq 's essay compilation titled " Fi Sabil al-Ba'ath " (translation: "The Road to Renaissance")

3640-458: The Ba'athist thought. Despite the ideology being very popular, it took time before the actual Regional Branch was established. A group of teachers established the Regional Branch in the city by Al-Karak . At the very beginning, the clinic owned by Abd al-Rahman Shuqyar was used as the branch's meeting place. Bahjat Abu Gharbiyah became the Regional Branch's first member in the West Bank , and

3744-605: The East Bank, and Jerusalem and Nablus on the West Bank. Shuqyar during a government-imposed exile to Southern Jordan, used his spare time reading Marxist and Leninist literature. While he never became a communist, Shuqyar began to support communist concepts. On his return from exile he tried to persuade the Regional Branch to join in an electoral front with the Jordanian Communist Party . However,

3848-529: The Iraqi Kurdish leftist-nationalists to the new Iraqi KDP, which, in turn, took the opportunity to convene a second Party Congress and duly elect Ahmad as secretary-general (effectively acting Chairman). However, from the very beginning in Iran, Ibrahim Ahmad's leftist politics, "intellectualism", and support for Qazi Muhammad put him at odds with the faction of the KDP loyal to Mustafa Barzani and his traditionalist-conservative tribal support base. It

3952-597: The National Command expelled Rikabi from the party. In Iraq, the Iraqi Regional Branch had supported Abd al-Karim Qasim 's seizure of power and its ensuing abolishment of the Iraqi Monarchy. The Iraqi Ba'athists supported Qasim on the grounds that they believed he would enter Iraq into the UAR, enlarging the Arab nationalist republic. However, this was proven to be a ruse, and after taking power, Qasim launched an Iraq first policy. In retaliation,

4056-625: The PUK was announced again in Berlin, and thus it was decided that 1 June is the anniversary date of the founding of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK was a coalition of at least five separate political entities, the most significant of which were Talabani and his closest followers, Nawshirwan Mustafa 's clandestine Marxist-Leninist group Komala , and the Kurdistan Socialist Movement (KSM), formed as

4160-555: The PUK was fighting. The PUK harassed Sipay Rizgari's troops and, to a large extent, cut off their supply lines. Since the first Gulf War , the PUK has jointly administered Kurdistan Region with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). However, in 1994 the parties engaged in a three-year conflict, known as the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War . The conflict ended with US mediation, and reconciliation

4264-483: The PUK's fourth congress in December 2019, Sheikh Jangi received the most votes for the General Leadership Council. In a compromise, he and Bafel were proclaimed co-presidents. In July 2021, Bafel shut down a media outlet close to Sheikh Jangi and ousted several important commanders from the counter-terrorism and intelligence units of the PUK, who were seen as affiliates of him. Shortly after, Bafel

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4368-482: The Regional Branch and other Arab nationalists groups. Due to his policy reversal, the Regional Branch gathered a group, led by Saddam Hussein , which tried but failed to assassinate Qasim. The Regional Branch seized power in the Ramadan Revolution . The coup was led by leading Regional Branch member Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr . The plotters appointed Abdul Salam Arif , a Nasserite, to the Presidency while al-Bakr

4472-482: The Regional Branch elected al-Bakr as Regional Secretary in 1964. Following the party's establishment in Syria, Ba'athist ideas spread throughout the Arab world. In Jordan Ba'athist thought first spread to the East Bank in the late-1940s, most notably at universities. While the Regional Branch was not formed until 1951, several meetings took place at the universities where students and professors alike would discuss

4576-414: The Regional Branch leaders Rimawi, Na'was, Gharbiyah and Munif al-Razzaz opposed such an idea, and because of it, Shuqyar left the Ba'ath Party. Rimawi and Na'was were elected to the National Command at the 2nd National Congress (held in 1952). At the 6th and 7th National Congress, the Regional Branch elected Razzaz to the National Command. The Lebanese Regional Branch was formed in 1949–1950. During

4680-467: The Regional Branch led to the November 1963 Iraqi coup d'état by President Arif and his Nasserite supporters. Iraq expert Malik Mufti believes Aflaq may have supported Arif's coup because it weakened al-Sadi's position within the party and strengthened his own. The coup forced the branch to go underground. Due to the coup, several leading Ba'athist were jailed, such as al-Bakr and Saddam. Despite this,

4784-488: The Regional Command became the real centre of party power, and the membership of the National Command became a largely honorary position, often the destination of figures being eased out of the leadership. One consequence of the split was that Zaki al-Arsuzi took Aflaq's place as the official father of Ba'athist thought in the pro-Syrian Ba'ath movement, while the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath movement still considered Aflaq

4888-565: The Regional Command. National Command sessions were held monthly. Of these, the National Liaisons Office was responsible for maintaining contact with the party's Regional Branches. A "region" ( quṭr ), in Ba'athist parlance, is an Arab state, e.g., Syria, Iraq, or Lebanon. Use of the term region reflected the Party's refusal to acknowledge these countries as separate nation-states. The Regional Congress, which combined all

4992-599: The Regional Secretary of the Jordanian Regional Branch. Rimawi reacted to his expulsion by forming his own party, the Arab Socialist Revolutionary Ba'ath Party , which established a rival National Command to compete with the original. The National Command responded to the problems in Iraq by appointing a Temporary Regional Command on 2 February 1960, which appointed Talib El-Shibib as Regional Secretary, and on 15 June 1961

5096-507: The Syrian Regional Branch's dissolution, which in fact broke the communication line with provincial branches and the National Command. While it is true that in 1962 the Regionalists supported the slogan adopted at the 5th National Congress, "the renewal of the union with Egypt while taking note of past mistakes", they treated such a slogan as a propaganda slogan rather than a feasible goal. The disillusionment felt among party members on

5200-575: The Syrian Regional Branch, while Abdullah Rimawi and Abdallah Na'was were elected to represent the Jordanian Branch. The 1954 congress is notable for sanctioning the merger of the Arab Socialist Movement and the Ba'ath Party, which took place in 1952. The Syrian Regional Branch rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s; in the 1954 parliamentary elections the Syrian Regional Branch won 22 seats in parliament, becoming

5304-566: The U.S. government, although the Iraqi Ba'athists are documented to have maintained supportive relationships with U.S. officials before, during, and after the coup. The Iraqi Regional Branch, when it took power, was so riven by factionalism that its purported allies launched a counter-coup forcing them out of power in November 1963. The 4th National Congress, held in August 1960, criticized

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5408-490: The UAR, but ending the statement by calling for the reestablishment of the UAR as a decentralized federal union with Nasser's Egypt. Many rank-and-file members opposed this change in policy, with many members being both disenchanted with pan-Arabism and Aflaq's continued party rule. When the Syrian Regional Branch was reestablished, the majority of its members in the provinces were of communal origins – Druze, Alawi, or Ismaili. The provincial party members had not been told of

5512-422: The anti-military left called for popular democracy , no involvement of the military in national politics and popular struggle, the Military Committee became concerned. In 1965, Ba'athist President Amin al-Hafiz imposed the socialist policies adopted in the 6th National Congress; fully nationalizing Syrian industry and vast segments of the private sector, and establishing a centralized command economy . By 1965

5616-408: The anti-military leftists began to "spread rumors about the rightist character of the military junta [Military Committee] within the party and their subversive efforts to engulf it. There was not a single officer in the party who was not accused of conspiracy and reactionary tendencies." In collaboration with the National Command, the Military Committee succeeded in expelling the anti-military left from

5720-426: The branch was legalized by a High Court. Both Rimawi and Na'was were elected to Parliament in the 1950 and 1951 elections as independents (the branch was not a legal party at the time). In the 1951 election, the branch managed to elect three members to parliament. Rimawi was able to retain his seat in parliament until the 1956 election . None of these elections can be considered democratic. Shuqyar, during

5824-411: The changes be directed by a "revolutionary vanguard", the final aim being to establish a "popular democracy" that was to guarantee freedom to the classes which constitute the true people and ensure the country's rapid development. This regime was to center on the party, leading the popular organizations and councils and operating according to the principle of " democratic centralism " Militant secularism

5928-595: The collapse of the revolt to "the inability of the feudalist, tribalist, bourgeois rightist and capitulationist Kurdish leadership". The PUK's support lies predominantly in the southern part of the Kurdistan Region . During the Iran-Iraq war , the PUK entered into hostilities with the Iranian Kurdish Sipay Rizgari , opposing them due to Sipay Rizgari's close ties to the Iraqi authorities that

6032-409: The dramatic changes that manifested in Ba'athist ideology from 1960 to 1964, and the Military Committee's takeover of the Syrian Regional Branch and the National Command in the period 1964 to 1966. The 6th National Congress signified the takeover of the party by an anti-militarist left, which opposed both the traditional leaders in the National Command and the pragmatists in the Military Committee. When

6136-533: The existence of the UAR, the Regional Branch was split into two factions, those supporting Nasser and those opposing him. However, in April 1960, the UAR denied the Regional Branch organ As Sahafäh access into the UAR-ruled Syria. The Regional Branch was strongest in the city of Tripoli . In the 1960 elections , Abd al-Majid al-Rafei was just a few votes short of being elected to parliament. However,

6240-416: The first Ba'ath Party government was deposed in a coup led by Abdul Salam Arif , Mustafa developed a close relationship with Arif. Mulla Mustafa signed an agreement with Arif in his personal capacity, rather than as president of the KDP. This infuriated Ahmad and Jalal Talabani as the agreement omitted any mention of self-administration, let alone autonomy—the whole point for which the Kurds had been fighting

6344-620: The form of Islam . It was not Islam that modeled the peoples of Arabia, the Fertile Crescent , and North Africa , equipping them with Islamic values, especially the Arabic language and the Arabic culture, but the Arab nation which created Islam. This conception of the Arab nation implicitly advantages the Arab contribution to history. On the other hand, Arab decadence can be overcome through a purifying and spiritual action, not religious but moral. The early Ba'ath gave little attention to

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6448-400: The goal of creating a socialist society seemed to be both an immediate goal and the main goal of the party. The concept of Arab socialism, accused of being narrow-minded and nationalistic, was replaced with the "Arab road to socialism" concept. The Points of Departure criticized the classical Ba'athist view regarding private ownership . Classical Ba'athists supported private ownership as

6552-512: The informal head of the Military Committee, overthrew Aflaq and Bitar's cabinet. The coup sprung out of factional rivalry between Jadid's "regionalist" (qutri) camp, which promoted ambitions for a Greater Syria , and the more traditionally pan-Arab faction then in power, the "nationalist" (qawmi) faction. Jadid's supporters were considered to have been more left-wing then Aflaq and his peers. Several of Jadid's opponents managed to make their escape, and they fled to Beirut , Lebanon . Jadid moved

6656-605: The judicial authority on Iraqi elections in Baghdad declared Bafel Talabani the sole leader of the PUK. After that, Sheikh Jangi proceeded to work on founding his own party. His new party, the People's Front received its license from the interior ministry on 17 January 2024 and was joined by several former PUK-members from Lahur's wing. A Co-Presidents are elected by the General Leadership Council. The PUK has 36 branches throughout Iraqi Kurdistan and draws membership from

6760-585: The leadership of Aflaq and Bitar, called for the reestablishment of the Syrian Regional Branch and deemphasized the party's commitment to Arab nationalism while emphasizing more the socialist character of the party. A year later, during the UAR's nadir in Syria, the Syrian General Abd al-Karim al-Nahlawi launched a coup on 28 September 1961 , which led to the reestablishment of the Syrian Arab Republic. The challenges of building

6864-530: The majority of Ba'ath members were of rural upbringing. The "Transitional Ba'ath", which grew out of the dissolution of the Syrian Regional Branch (1958) and the Military Committee, was more rural in outlook, policy and ideology. The slogan "Unity, liberty, socialism" is the key tenet in Ba'athist thought. Unity stood for the creation of an independent, strong Arab Nation. Liberty did not mean liberal democracy , but rather freedom from colonial oppression and freedom of speech and thought . Aflaq believed that

6968-429: The military, whose daily life and routine are shaped by the rigid military oppression on the home front, and [Soviet aid among others] military aid." Fuad al-Rikabi founded the Iraqi Regional Branch in 1951 or 1952. There are those who trace the branch's founding to Abd ar Rahman ad Damin and Abd al Khaliq al Khudayri in 1947, after their return from the 1st National Congress, which was held in Syria. Another version

7072-402: The more moderate Arab nationalists founded the pro-Nasserite Socialist Unionists party. A third group, led by people disenchanted with both Nasser and the union period, remained in the Ba'ath Party but stopped believing in the feasibility of pan-Arabism. On 21 February 1962, the National Command issued a new policy regarding the pan-Arab project by first mentioning the successes and failures of

7176-452: The need of a socialist vanguard in-order to: "play the role of mediator and leader (even if it is in power) that acts to direct the journey of the masses towards the socialist future in a scientific way and in a democratic style". While the Points of Departure didn't create a break with the party's traditional ideology, it criticized the party's old guard for giving Arab unity primacy over socialism and their failure to turn Ba'athism into

7280-445: The pan-Arab project, led to the radicalization of the party's interpretation of socialism. Yasin al-Hafiz, a former member of the Syrian Communist Party , was an early frontrunner for the party's radicalization. While he didn't oppose the pan-Arab project, he wanted to turn the concept of Arab socialism into a scientific and revolutionary socialist ideology which adapted Marxism to local conditions. Jamal al-Atassi , who had been

7384-419: The party at the 7th National Congress. The Military Committee, which now controlled the Syrian Regional Branch, took control of the Ba'ath Party in the coup of 1966 . The military committee accused the Old Guard of diluting socialist ideology and casting aside " collective leadership ". According to Middle East expert Avraham Ben-Tzur, "the [neo-]Ba'th in its latest variant is a bureaucratic apparatus headed by

7488-467: The party in a more radical direction. Although he and his supporters had not signed onto the victorious far-left line at the 6th Party Congress, they had now moved to adopt its positions. The moderate faction, formerly led by Aflaq and al-Bitar, were purged from the party. While it took some years, the 1966 coup resulted in the creation of two competing National Commands, one Syrian-dominated and another Iraqi-dominated . However, both in Iraq and Syria,

7592-602: The party to strengthen their positions among the workers, peasants, artisans, and shopkeepers. Because of the position of the Lebanese Regional Branch, Aflaq at the 5th National Congress invited enough Iraqi Regional Branch delegates to neutralize the Lebanese delegates. However, at the same time, the Lebanese Regional Branch opposed Hawrani and his faction. At the 6th National Congress, the Lebanese Regional Branch elected Jubrän Majdalani and Khalid al-Ali to

7696-534: The party was ruled by the Executive Committee, but this organ, along with others, too, was replaced at the 2nd National Congress in 1954. In Ba'athist jargon, "Nation" means the Arab Nation , because of that, the National Command formed the highest policy-making and coordinating council for the Ba'ath movement throughout the Arab world. The National Command had several bureaus, similar to those of

7800-536: The party's constitution stated that: "...the Arabs form one nation. This nation has the natural right to live in a single state. [As such,] the Arab fatherland constitutes an indivisible political and economic unit. No Arab can live apart from the others." To express his heartfelt belief in Arab nationalism, Aflaq coined the term "one Arab nation with an eternal message" ( Arabic : ummah arabiyyah wahidah thatu risalah khalidah ). Party ideology, and Ba'athism in general,

7904-563: The party's performance since the last Regional Congress, while at the same time formulating new policies for the next period, which would last until the next Regional Congress was held. How long this period lasted was decided by the Regional Command. The Regional Command, similar to the Branch Command, operated through bureaus and met for weekly-sessions. Below the Regional Commands were branches . The branch came above

8008-479: The party, frustrated by widespread tribalism and corruption within the party. He proceeded to found the Gorran movement , which in turn presented itself as an alternative to the corrupt politics of PUK and KDP. After the founder and leader of the PUK, Jalal Talabani , died in 2017, a struggle for the leadership of the party ignited between Jalal's son Bafel Talabani and the then co-president Lahur Sheikh Jangi . On

8112-753: The popular figurehead of the Kurdish people. Mulla Mustafa would accept no dissent, and, fearing for their lives, Ahmad and his followers slipped away at night from a heated discussion with Mulla Mustafa, and retreated back to their stronghold in Mawat, Iraq . At the Sixth Party Congress of the KDP in July 1964, representatives from the Ahmad-Talabani faction were arrested upon arrival. A few days later Mulla Mustafa sent his son, Idris Barzani with

8216-568: The problems facing the peasants and workers. As the historian Hanna Batatu notes, "Aflaq was basically urban in outlook. The peasants never constituted an object of his special concern. In his writing there is scarcely an expression of concentrated interest in the country's husbandsmen." While peasants and the issues they faced are mentioned in some of Aflaq's work, there was scarcely any depth given to them. Aflaq never expressed explicit enmity towards traditional landowners. Issues such as these would only gain prominence when Akram al-Hawrani became

8320-497: The provincial branches, was the region's highest authority and elected a Regional Command, the party leadership in a specific region; the Regional Tribunal, the body responsible for discipline inspection; and a Regional Secretary, the regional party leader. The Regional Congress was made of delegates from the provincial branches; other members attended, but as observers. The Regional Congress was responsible for evaluating

8424-482: The same factional lines that developed in the Syrian Regional Branch came to the Lebanese Regional Branch. At the 4th National Congress (held in Lebanon), which was mainly attended by delegates representing Lebanon, several resolutions with a pronounced anti-Nasser tone were approved. At the same time, criticism of Aflaq and Bitar was severe, both their leadership records and their ideology were criticized. A resolution

8528-578: The same level of the organisation, i.e., all contacts had to pass through a higher command level. The National Command was the ruling organ of the party between sessions of the National Congress and was headed by a Secretary-General. Between National Congresses, the National Command was held accountable by the National Consultative Council (Arabic: al-majlis al-istishari al-qawmi ). The National Consultative Council

8632-563: The second largest party in the country. 90 percent of Ba'ath Party members who stood for elections were elected to parliament. The failure of the traditional parties, represented by the People's Party and the National Party , strengthened the Ba'ath Party's public credibility. Through this position, the party was able to get two of its members into the cabinet; Bitar was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Khalil Kallas became Minister of Economics. Its new, strengthened position

8736-511: The secret Military Committee. The Marxist wing gained new ground at the 6th National Congress (held in October 1963), in which the Iraqi and Syrian regional branches called for the establishment of "socialist planning", " collective farms run by peasants", "workers' democratic control of the means of production", and other demands reflecting a certain emulation of Soviet-style socialism . Aflaq, angry at this transformation of his party, retained

8840-466: The sub-branch appointed the command's secretary. Beneath the section were divisions . A division comprised two to seven circles , controlled by a division commander. The lowest level was the circle. It was composed of three to seven members, constituting the basic organizational unit. Such Ba'athist groups occurred throughout the bureaucracy and the military. They functioned as the Party's watchdogs and were an effective form of covert surveillance within

8944-582: The sub-branch; it comprised at least two to five sub-branches and operated at the provincial level. The branch held a congress periodically in which it elected a Command and a Secretary (leader). The Command operated through bureaus, such as the Workers Bureau and the Bureau of the Secretariat. The sub-branch level constituted three to five sections "and was the lowest level of the party to hold

9048-594: The title Puk . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Puk&oldid=1118239178 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Patriotic Union of Kurdistan The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan ( PUK ; Kurdish : یەکێتیی نیشتمانیی کوردستان , romanized :  Yekêtîy Nîştimanîy Kurdistan )

9152-474: The urban intellectual classes of Iraqi Kurdistan upon its establishment, partly due to five of its seven founding members being Ph.D. holders and academics. In the early 1980s, the PUK evolved and broadened its appeal to all sections of Iraqi Kurdish society, especially the rural classes. In 1992, the constituent groups within the PUK merged into a unified political movement that affirmed its social-democratic identity and affiliation. Their communique ascribed

9256-435: Was "well-known in nationalist circles that the relations between the two men Mustafa and Qazi were not easy". Ibrahim Ahmad was soon joined by up-and-coming intellectual and socialist Jalal Talabani . Barzani and Ahmad were known to dislike each other. But while each wanted to reduce the others' influence in the KDP, each also knew that the other was indispensable in securing the loyalty of their respective support-bases. When

9360-486: Was a forum made up of representatives from the party's regional branches. However, the number of National Consultative Council members was decided by the size of the regional branch. The National Congress elected the National Command, National Tribunal, the party's discipline body, and the Secretary-General, the party leader. The congress delegates determined the party's policies and procedures. Before 1954,

9464-537: Was a relative success, and it became the second-largest party in the Syrian parliament in the 1954 election . This, coupled with the increasing strength of the Syrian Communist Party , led to the establishment of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union of Egypt and Syria, in 1958. The UAR would prove unsuccessful, and was dissolved following the 1961 Syrian coup d'état . Following the break-up of

9568-715: Was able, due to his position as head of the Organization Bureau of the Regional Command , to recruit several Marxist or Marxist-leaning members to the top of the Syrian Regional party hierarchy. Radical socialists led by Ali Salih al-Sadi took control of the Iraqi Regional Branch in 1963, which led to the official radicalization of the party's ideology. The delegates at the 6th National Congress elected an Ideology Committee that

9672-468: Was appointed the country's Prime Minister . However, real power was in the hands of Ali Salih al-Sadi, the branch's Regional Secretary. After taking power, the Regional Branch through its militia, the National Guard, initiated what Iraqi expert Con Coughlin referred to as an "orgy of violence" against communist and left-wing elements. These repressive measures coupled with factionalism within

9776-403: Was approved, which stated that the party leaders (Aflaq and al-Bitar among others) had too hastily entered into a union with Egypt, had wrongly dissolved the Syrian Regional Branch in 1958, and had given pan-Arabism primacy when socialism was more important. The resolution also affirmed the need to use a more Marxist lens rather than a Ba'athist one to analyze the current situation, and the need for

9880-462: Was declared the sole leader of the party. In November, Lahur Sheikh Jangi was expelled from the PUK along a few others and Bafel took full control over the party's finances. Sheikh Jangi filed a lawsuit against the expulsion. In February 2023, a court in Erbil ruled, that the ouster from the co-presidency was contradicted PUK's internal regulation and reinstated him. A day after however, on 21 February,

9984-539: Was emphasized in the " Declaration of Principles " manifesto published by the Ba'ath party in 1960; which declared that the party's "educational policy" was to build a "new generation of Arabs that believe in the unity of the nation and the eternity of its mission". The manifesto also stated that this envisaged Ba'athist generation would be "committed to scientific thought freed from the shackles of superstition and backward customs" and replace religion with Arab nationalism as their belief system. Neo-Ba'athism refers to

10088-521: Was eventually achieved. In September 2001, the Islamist group Jund al-Islam (the Army of Islam) massacred 43 PUK members. Originally a centre-left party opposing the conservative tribalism of the Kurdistan Democratic Party , the PUK developed into a similarly tribalistic vehicle for the political ambitions of Jalal Talabani and his family. In 2009, influential PUK politician Nawshirwan Mustafa left

10192-633: Was founded by the merger of the Arab Ba'ath Movement , led by ʿAflaq and al-Bitar, and the Arab Ba'ath , led by al-ʾArsūzī, on 7 April 1947 as the Arab Baʿth Party . The party quickly established branches in other Arab countries, although it would only hold power in Iraq and Syria . The Arab Baʿth Party merged with the Arab Socialist Movement , led by Akram al-Hawrani , in 1952 to form the Arab Socialist Baʿth Party. The newly formed party

10296-521: Was necessary, but instead focused on freeing the Arab Nation and its people from colonization and oppression in general. After the failure of the United Arab Republic (UAR), a union of Egypt and Syria, the Ba'ath Party was divided into two main factions, the Regionalists ( Arabic : Qutriyyun ) and the Nationalists (pan-Arab) ( Arabic : Qawmiyyun ). When the union with Egypt collapsed,

10400-483: Was not based on concepts such as the purity of the Arab race or ethnic chauvinism, but on idealistic concepts borrowed from the enlightenment era . According to author Tabitha Petran, the basic tenet of the party's ideology was: ...that the Arab nation is a permanent entity in history. The Arab nation is considered, philosophically speaking, not as a social and economic formation, but as a transcendent fact inspiring different forms, one of its highest contributions taking

10504-543: Was responsible for writing a charter about the party's ideology. The end result was the document Points of Departure . The document, which was approved by the 6th National Congress, relegated Arab unity to a secondary role and gave socialism prominence. Marxist concepts were used interchangeably alongside Ba'athist ones; however, the document was reluctant in explicitly admitting that certain ideas were of Marxist origins. The 6th National Congress borrowed key Marxist-Leninist tenets such as " people's democracy " and emphasized

10608-438: Was the primary ideological book of the Ba'ath party. The work was published by Aflaq in 1940. From its very beginning, the party was a manifestation of Arab nationalist thought, with the party describing itself as "The Party of Arab Unity". The pan-Arab tendencies of the party's predecessor, the Arab Ba'ath Movement , were strengthened in 1945–1947 by recruiting members from Zaki al-Arsuzi 's Arab Ba'ath. The first article of

10712-409: Was thus resigned the responsibility of building the party's organization in the area the branch secretary in the West Bank, and was thus responsible in that area. In the West Bank, the branch was most active in the cities of Jerusalem and Ramallah . The 1st Regional Congress was held in 1951 in the home of Abdullah Rimawi . The congress mapped out the "future course of the party". The next year,

10816-412: Was used successfully to garner support for Syria's merger with Gamal Abdel Nasser 's Egypt, which led to the establishment of the United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958. On 24 June 1959, Fuad al-Rikabi , the Regional Secretary of the Iraqi Regional Branch, accused the National Command of betraying Arab nationalist principles by conspiring against the UAR. In light of these criticisms, the Ba'ath convened

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