The death of Gorran party and the birth of Shaswar movement

Rizgar Khoshnaw | Exclusive to iKurd.net

For the past 20 years that I have been very active with Kurdish issues, I never seen so much troubles and uncertainties about Kurdistan come up all at once as I am now.

As I was in the process of writing about Gorran Party and Shaswar Abdulwahid (owner of Nailia Group in Sulaimani and self-made multimillionaire) more and more interesting developments regarding Kurdistan developed. But, for now, let’s discuss what is going on with Shaswar and Gorran party.

Gorran party in total disarray and I honestly think they are on their way out and slowly/painfully dying. A couple of years ago, I warned many Gorran personnel that if they continue on this path, they will lose the support of their constituents/members and it would appear I was right about my predictions. I communicate with many Gorran members on regular basis and most of them are very pessimistic, and rightfully so, about their party’s future, especially after the recent election of a new leadership.

Lets not forget that Gorran party had made so many promises to its voters in which they failed to implement any of them. They seem to always place the blame of their miserable failure on other parties and never take responsibility for their own actions, or lack of action. They have very dismal track record and have lost the faith and trust of their constituents.

Shaswar announced that he will not only be preparing to start a new party (Youth Movement of Kurdistan??) in Kurdistan, but he is leading an effort to stop, or counter attack, the referendum vote that is due to take place on September 25th. I honestly think the “NO to Referendum” is very unwise move and will surly back fire on him and he should cancel it.

The unorganized and the diminishing powers and popularity of Gorran could prove to be the opportunity that Shaswar is looking, and waiting, for and he is smartly capitalizing on it. He has chosen the perfect opportunity/timing to begin his movement in Sulaimani.

Gorran wagon was operating on three legs (wheels) and now they are down to only one! Mean while, the Shaswar wagon has four new and strong wheels and he is on his way to overtake Sulaimani as he will surly attract the dissatisfied and disappointed people that had voted for Gorran in the past elections.

Can anyone stop Shaswar now? I seriously doubt it especially now that he has employed a US lobby firm (Mercury LLC) and has befriended many powerful US politicians during his two visits to Washington, DC in the past two months in order to advance his agenda. It seems he had received a very warm welcome by the US politicians that he met with during his visits and I am certain he is encouraged by such treatment and the friendly reception!

On July 26, a group of lawmakers in Kurdistan have began a case against Shaswar for attempting to persuade the public for voting No to Referendum. They can not overpower Shaswar anymore and it is too late to contain him. He has become a force to content with since now has a very sizable US based lobby firm with international lawyers on their payroll to back his effort/mission in Kurdistan.

His best qualities is that he takes advice from people that are experienced/knowledgeable and able to direct him in the right path. I have had many interactions with him in the past few years and he seems to be focused on what he wants to do in Kurdistan and how to accomplish it.

He is also known to listen to people and does not pretend to know it all, as most Kurdish politicians often do! Such quality is a must for any politician that is looking to gain the support and trust of his supporters.

The Kurdish politicians, from all parties, must deal with him and can not afford to ignore him, as they are very good at ignoring people in the hope that they might go a why after a while! And, at the same time, they can not eliminate/stop Shaswar’s popularity and need to view him as a formidable opposition and challenger. His very aggressive approach and determination to succeed will take him a long way and will help him in his mission, if he does not get in to an “accident” before he achieves his goals!

So, who is going to make their next move and what is it going to be? Let us wait and see how this drama plays out!

Rizgar Xoshnaw, a senior Kurdish writer based in Washington, a longtime contributing writer and columnist for iKurd.net.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.