Head of leading Iraqi Kurd political party dies at 73

By Idris Okuducu

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq (AA) - Nawshirwan Mustafa, the leader of a prominent Iraqi Kurdish political party, passed away Friday at the age of 73.

According to an online statement released by the Movement for Change (Gorran) Party, which operates in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, Mustafa died in his hometown of Sulaymaniyah following a long struggle with illness.

Mustafa founded the Movement for Change in 2007, with the party taking part in the region’s parliamentary polls two years later.

It currently stands in opposition to the Kurdish Regional Government’s ruling coalition, comprised of President Masoud Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.