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The Gorran Movement ( ku, Bizûtinewey Gorran / بزووتنەوەی گۆڕان, ''Movement for Change'') or just Gorran (''Change'') is a
Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
political party in the
Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, ...
of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. Formerly under the leadership of
Omar Said Ali, it was founded in 2009 by
Nawshirwan Mustafa
Nawshirwan Mustafa (22 December 1944 – 19 May 2017) ( ku, نەوشیروان مستەفا) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the General Coordinator of the Movement for Change and the leader of the opposition in the Kurdistan Regio ...
. Gorran is the sixth largest party in the
Kurdistan Region
Kurdistan Region ( ku, هەرێمی کوردستان, translit=Herêmî Kurdistan; ar, إقليم كردستان), abbr. KRI, is an autonomous region in Iraq comprising the four Kurdish-majority governorates of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Duhok, ...
, it has lost almost all of its voters (95%) and is now no longer represented in the Iraqi parliament, Nawshirwan Mustafa's sons Chya and Nma were the main cause of the Gorran Movements political and electoral obliteration.
Gorran under Nawshirwan Mustafa
According to the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
Gorran had "already shaken the political landscape in Kurdish areas" in March 2010.
Support for the Movement for Change "stems from the simple fact that it is the new, dynamic, fresh option in Kurdistan" and its "calls for an end to monopoly control of power".
One of Gorran's main objectives is to "uproot rampant corruption".
The party is particularly popular with the youth of Kurdistan and campaigns against patronage. It consists of a mix of (former) PUK/KDP members,
Peshmerga
The Peshmerga ( ku, پێشمەرگه, Pêşmerge, lit=those who face death) is the Kurdish military forces of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. According to the Constitution of Iraq, the Peshmerga, along with their security subsidiaries, ...
, and academics.
Gorran supporters have often faced "violent intimidation".
Gorran have stated in ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...
'' that "the KDP and PUK have done a poor job of promoting the Kurds’ interests at the federal parliament in Baghdad".
The party in the 2009 and 2010 elections "won in the city and the province of Sulaimaniyah".
2009 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election and 2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
The Change List won a total of 25 seats in the
July 2009 elections, making it the second-most successful list in the election after the
Kurdistani List
The Kurdistan List ( ku, ليست كوردستان Lîstî Kurdistani), also known as the Kurdistan Alliance or the Brotherhood List, is the name of the electoral coalition that ran in the Kurdistan Regional Government parliamentary elections in ...
. The party viewed the election results as a huge victory.
The movement's platform for the 2009 election was to de-politicise the regional government, strengthen the judiciary, limit political interference in the economy and make the budget more transparent. Supporting
federalism
Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...
for Iraq, it said disputes with the central government could be solved through dialogue based on the
Iraqi Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ( ar, دستور جمهورية العراق Kurdish: دەستووری عێراق) is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on Se ...
.
Considered to be the main opposition to
Kurdistan List
The Kurdistan List ( ku, ليست كوردستان Lîstî Kurdistani), also known as the Kurdistan Alliance or the Brotherhood List, is the name of the electoral coalition that ran in the Kurdistan Regional Government parliamentary elections in ...
, particularly in areas dominated by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. The campaign focused on addressing what it sees as corruption undertaken by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. It managed to win eight seats.
2013 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election and 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election
Gorran won 24 seats in the 2013 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election and 9 seats in the 2014 Iraqi parliamentary election.
2011 Kurdish protests in Iraq
In 2011 the party called for the resignation of the Cabinet and the disbanding of the
Kurdistan Regional Government
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) ( ku, حکوومەتی هەرێمی کوردستان, ''Hikûmetî Herêmî Kurdistan'') is the official executive body of the autonomous Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
The cabinet is selected by the m ...
during the protests in Kurdistan that followed the
2011 Egyptian protests
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
.
This was accompanied by protests against the Kurdistan Regional Government and the
Kurdistan Democratic Party
The Kurdistan Democratic Party ( ku, Partiya Demokrat a Kurdistanê; پارتی دیموکراتی کوردستان), usually abbreviated as KDP or PDK, is the largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan and the senior partner in the Kurdistan Regional Gov ...
.
Some have criticized the party for causing unnecessary unrest, arguing that there is no need for the Kurdish government to step down.
Amnesty International
Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
and the
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
have urged protests to be allowed. February 17, 2011, Human Rights Watch reported security guards firing on protesters in Sulaimaniya, killing at least one person and wounding more than 33 others after the crowd
threw rocks at the political headquarters of the KDP.
Since there were shootings which led to deaths, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for an independent investigation into the killings.
Gorran under Omar Said Ali
Following death of the party leader,
Nawshirwan Mustafa
Nawshirwan Mustafa (22 December 1944 – 19 May 2017) ( ku, نەوشیروان مستەفا) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the General Coordinator of the Movement for Change and the leader of the opposition in the Kurdistan Regio ...
, in May 2017, an internal ballot was held to elect a new leader,
Omar Said Ali, and six other executive assembly members.
2018 Kurdistan Region parliamentary election and 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election
Under the new leadership of Omar Said Ali, Gorran failed to present a lasting challenge to the KDP-PUK duopoly and the movement's popularity has been declining. As a result, Gorran suffered a harsh blow winning only 12 seats in the 2018 Kurdistan parliamentary election and only 5 seats in the 2018 Iraqi parliamentary election. The total number of votes for Gorran has shrunk by 60 percent since previous elections and Gorran has lost a significant number of followers and prominent members.
Gorran officials are also concerned to an extent about the future of the party, saying it “faces a deadly failure” and has been dogged with infighting. Gorran leadership was criticised for their handling of the referendum, as they had initially opposed the timing of the referendum but eventually supported holding it in September 2017 amid intense political pressure. New Generation, a movement founded by Shaswar Abdulwahid, has taken in Gorran defectors, New Generation has been described as stepping forward as Gorran has fallen back.
The biggest crisis facing Gorran and the source of many of its recent failings and resulting loss of popularity is the ongoing dispute over the parties assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars and include shares in several ongoing projects, including Gasin cement company and metro supermarket as well as 305,000 square meters of land property including the Gorran party headquarters which were secretly seized by Nawshirwan Mustafa's two sons after his death during the funeral while party supporters were in mourning.
The brothers’ ownership of the property is seen by many in a negative light and drew allegations of hypocrisy and nepotism, one of the things Gorran was established against.
The decision caused a public and political backlash when it was exposed in the independent newspaper
Awena,
and a growing number of middle- and high-ranking officials as well as grass-roots supporters are adding their voices to the uproar within the party.
, a former supporter of the party, has said their claims have damaged the principles of the party and this issue could lead to a disaster which will bring Gorran to its political end.
As a result of Gorran's political direction and subsequent failings after the death of Nawshirwan Mustafa, the party is now split between two main rival factions. The first faction is responsible for all decisions post-19 May 2017 and is seen as wanting to turn Gorran into a family-based party led by Omar Said Ali,
Mustafa Said Qadir, Mohammad Tofiq Rahim and Nawshirwan's two sons. The second faction rejects Gorran becoming a family-based party and is led by Othman Haji Mahmud, Qadir Hagi Ali, Aram Ahmad, Dr. Yusuf Mohammed, Ali Hama Salih and Abdulay Mala Nuri.
Corruption of Chia Nawshirwan and Nma Nawshirwan within Gorran have been exposed in the media,
prominent members have called for their expulsion from the party by
Omar Said Ali "for the sake of Gorran’s interest and staying on the right path", the dirty deals have been facilitated by members of the KRG cabinet, one such corrupt deal has been identified concerns two valuable pieces of land belonging to the government which are 75,000 m2 and 125,000 m2 in size.
Kamal Salim Gorran's Minister of Trade and Industry in the KRG cabinet has signed the deals for Chia and Nma who are accused of betraying and selling out their father
Nawshirwan Mustafa
Nawshirwan Mustafa (22 December 1944 – 19 May 2017) ( ku, نەوشیروان مستەفا) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the General Coordinator of the Movement for Change and the leader of the opposition in the Kurdistan Regio ...
.
In another example of Chia Nawshirwan and Nma Nawshirwan's on going corruption scandals, their links with Sulaimani Provincial Council member Muhammad Sheikh Wahab has been exposed, Wahab under Article 289 of the Iraqi Penal Code, which criminalizes falsifying official documents is facing charges of falsifying customs bills worth $10 million in which Nma and Chia are implicated. Chia also called Chiya Nawshirwan was born in Iran and holds a bachelor's degree in economics and master's degree in Politics and International Relations both from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Gorran 2021 Iraqi parliamentary election
Gorran suffered a humiliating defeat of not winning a single seat in the 2021 Iraqi parliamentary elections, the movement and the disastrous election campaign was led by
Omar Said Ali and the two sons of founder Nawshirwan Mustafa. On 13 October 2021 leadership decided to step down. Political observers have said the election result was a fatal blow for Gorran “Gorran was born in 2009 but died in 2021”. The scale of Gorran's demise is represented by a 95% percent decrease in votes and it is now the sixth largest political party in the Kurdistan Region. Those identified with Gorran's collapse by the public are Omar Said Ali, Chia and Nma Nawshirwan,
Mustafa Said Qadir, Jalal Jawher and Haval Abu Bakr. Former Gorran supporters have held protests against Omar Said Ali and Chia Nawshirwan demanding they leave Gorran Headquarters and return the property held by them. It is rumoured that Osman Haji Mahmoud and Dr. Yusuf Mohammed will jointly take over Gorran. Historian David McDowall states "In the end Gorran changed nothing".
Gorran party structure
Executive Assembly
* Vacant, general coordinator of Gorran.
* Vacant, coordinator of internal chambers.
* Vacant, coordinator of national assembly.
* Vacant, coordinator of public assembly.
* Vacant, coordinator of Parliament factions.
* Vacant, coordinator of regional representatives.
* Vacant, coordinator of public relations.
National Assembly
The national assembly's (Jivat) role is policy. It consists of leaders of Gorran blocs in Iraqi and Kurdish parliaments, coordinators of Gorran departments, district officials and representatives who were successful in Gorran's internal elections.
General Assembly
The general assembly's (Jivat) role is advisory. It consists of former Gorran leaders who have held office and are now retired.
Notable Members
* Vice President
Mustafa Said Qadir
* MP Dr Ghalib Muhammad
* MP
Ali Hama Saleh
* MP Kawa Muhammad
* MP
Yousif Muhammed Sadiq
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Movement For Change
2009 establishments in Iraqi Kurdistan
Kurdish nationalism in Iraq
Kurdish nationalist political parties
Kurdish political parties in Iraq
Liberal parties in Iraq
Social liberal parties
Political parties established in 2009
Political parties in Kurdistan Region
Regionalist parties
Secularism in Iraq