US comes to Talabani’s rescue as Barzani attempts coup after KRG referendum

A coup prepared by Masoud Barzani in order to take control of the Talabani region after the illegitimate referendum held in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Sept. 25, 2017 has been exposed.

Kosret Resul, a former Peshmerga commander who took over as general secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan following Jalal Talabani’s demise conspired with Barzani and took up the role of the commander of the coup. The Goran Movement was also involved in the coup attempt.

British and U.S. intelligence services informed Talabani’s son, Bafil, and thus prevented the actualization of the coup.

Bafil sought help from Iran to prevent the coup. He traveled with his mother Hiro, sibling Kubat and cousin Lahor on Oct. 11 to Sulaymaniyah and met with Hashd Shaabi leader Hadi al-Amiri and Major General in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force Qasem Soleimani. They agreed that the coup must be prevented.

Three days later, on Oct. 14, they met in the Bashir village and finalized their agreement. Bafil, Kubat and Lahor attended this second meeting without Hiro. An agreement was reached regarding a military operation against Barzani’s forces. Two days later, an operation against Barzani’s Peshmerga fighters in Erbil, Mosul and Kirkuk was initiated.

Once the coup was prevented, Kosret Sesul fled Sulaymaniyah and took shelter with Barzani.

Yeni Şafak daily spoke to figures close to Barzani to discuss the developments experienced in northern Iraq before Oct. 16. A high-level official who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons confirmed the developments following Sept. 25. The Kurdish official said Talabani’s Peshmerga participated in operations with Hashd Shaabi, and that following Talabani’s demise, the attempt to take control of two regions failed, adding that Oct. 16 was essentially a countercoup against the Talabani family.

After the completion of the Oct. 16 process, regional actors brought the parties together again. Kosret Resul, who took shelter in Erbil, the center of Barzani’s forces, returned to Selahaddin after the parties agreed on a new deal. Necrettin Kerim, the former governor of Kirkuk, along with Kosret Resul, will allegedly be the two main actors of the new plan regarding energy resources.

Former head of the Turkish General Staff’s intelligence arm İsmail Hakkı Pekin said “Western forces paid off the Talabani family.”

Pekin stated that Lahor Talabani played an active role in the Hood Event in Sulaymaniyah on July 4, 2003, and that 40 Peshmerga fighters were there that day. Following the invasion of Iraq, a group of Turkish troops operating in northern Iraq were caught, led away with hoods covering their heads and interrogated by U.S. soldiers.

The U.S. repaid Talabani for his cooperation 15 years later by saving him from the coup attempt, Pekin said.

During the raid of the building that was used by Special Forces, many documents against the U.S. belonging to Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds detailing the U.S. occupation were found and many of those figures were later executed, he said.