"The meeting revolved around Kurdistan region and Iraq’s political and security status and PUK’s concerns with governance of the Kurdistan region," a KurdSat English reporter in Erbil said. The Kurdistan region government, currently dominated by the KDP, has outspent resources in KDP strongholds Erbil and Duhok, while PUK’s stronghold Sulaimani lags in many respects and suffers from a lack of infrastructure as Erbil’s apparent blockade on Sulaimani is underway, according to government sources in Sulaimani. 

“PUK is also worried about freedom of expression in the Kurdistan region and made it clear to the foreign envoys that people should be safe when expressing their opinions,” the report said. The KDP usually has a vague policy towards freedom of expression as it publicly supports it. It has put tens of journalists and activists behind bars on various charges; journalists were charged with conspiring with foreign powers, including the US and Germany. Badinan Detainees is a case in point; several journalists and activists were detained by Erbil security forces in 2020 in their homes and kept in custody for a year without trial. Some of them were sentenced to over five years in prison.  

Erbil and Duhok have developed better than Sulaimani. Because Erbil discriminates against the PUK Stronghold Sulaimani, PUK supporters and people of Sulaimani say on social media.

The PUK has made its position clear to the public and foreign consulates and ambassadors about its disapproval of how the Kurdistan region is governed. To protest Ebril’s discrimination against Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani has boycotted the Kurdistan region council of minister meetings twice and continues to do so.