Masoud Barzani
Masoud Barzani (Kurdish: مهسعوود بارزانی, romanized: Mesûd Barzanî;[4][5] born 16 August 1946) is a Kurdish politician who has been leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979, and was President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq from 2005 to 2017.
Masoud Barzani
Position established
Early life and career
Barzani was born in the territory controlled by the self-declared Republic of Mahabad, and succeeded his father Mustafa Barzani as leader of the KDP in 1979.[6]
Working closely with his brother Idris Barzani until Idris's death, Barzani and various other Kurdish groups fought with the Islamic Republic of Iran against the Iraqi military during the Iran–Iraq War.[6] Barzani has played a key role in the development of the Kurdistan Region polity since the Gulf War.[7]
Criticism
Members of the Barzani family allegedly control a large number of commercial enterprises in Iraqi Kurdistan, with a gross value of several billion dollars, although no evidence of such ownership by Masoud Barzani himself exists. While accusations of corruption against both the KDP-Barzanis and the PUK-Talabanis are often levied by both Kurdish sources and international observers such as Michael Rubin, President Barzani on several occasions has denied involvement in any commercial enterprises.[22]
Insufficient financial transparency in the region serves to both exacerbate the accusations and hamper efforts to find any evidence of malfeasance. In July 2010 the opposition paper Rozhnama accused the Barzani-led KDP of pocketing large sums from illegal oil-smuggling.[23]
In December 2005, Kamal Qadir, a Kurdish legal scholar with Austrian citizenship, was arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan for a series of articles criticizing Barzani's government and family. He was charged with defamation and sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment.[24] He was released in 2006 following international pressure from Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and the government of Austria.[25] In May 2010 the journalist Sardasht Osman was killed after criticising the Barzani family.[26]
Barzani's detractors say he is tribal, conservative, and unworldly, often playing traditional tribal roles. However, his administration in Erbil successfully built modern transportation infrastructures, attracted foreign business investment, and prioritized education.[27]