Bafel Jalal Talabani became PUK co-president in 2020 and sole president in 2022. This dated profile covers his background, the split with Lahur Talabany and public positions through October 2026.

Bafel Talabani with a closely shaved head and short beard, wearing a navy jacket and open-collared white shirt before blue curtains
Bafel Talabani, 29 July 2022. Photograph credited to هەژیر ئیسماعیل لاله ئەحمەد; this portrait is an existing Wikimedia Commons crop of a larger photograph. © هەژیر ئیسماعیل لاله ئەحمەد · Wikimedia Commons crop · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Family background and early work

Bafel Jalal Talabani is an Iraqi Kurdish politician and the elder son of Jalal Talabani and Hero Ibrahim Ahmed. The PUK’s published biography gives Baghdad as his birthplace and 1973 as his birth year, and describes part of his upbringing at his grandfather Ibrahim Ahmed’s home in the United Kingdom. It also records work directing his father’s secretariat. Qubad Talabani is his brother. These family relationships help explain his political setting, but the party leadership was subsequently obtained through specific internal decisions, rather than a constitutional office automatically inherited from a parent. The party’s biography is a first-party account, whose praise should be distinguished from its dated appointments. [1]

From co-president to sole party president

Bafel and his cousin Lahur Talabany, also known as Lahur Sheikh Jangi, became PUK co-presidents in February 2020. The arrangement followed the party’s fourth congress and the search for a leadership structure after Jalal Talabani’s death in 2017. On 28 August 2022 the leadership council abolished the co-presidential arrangement and named Bafel sole president. The fifth congress re-elected him on 27 September 2023. These stages explain why an undated description of him as co-president alongside Lahur is misleading. President of the PUK is a party position; it is distinct from the presidency of Iraq, the Kurdistan Region presidency and the office of regional deputy prime minister held by Qubad. [1] [2]

The 2021 split involved the security institutions

The break between the cousins became visible in July 2021 when Bafel and Qubad replaced the heads of the PUK-linked intelligence and counter-terrorism bodies who were associated with Lahur. Rudaw’s account of the later leadership decision describes the replacements as loyal to Bafel and Lahur’s effective removal from power. The dispute consequently concerned control of security organisations as well as the formal party title. Lahur later founded the People’s Front, or Baray Gal, which won two seats in the 2024 regional parliamentary election. His subsequent position was that of a rival opposition leader, rather than a continuing partner in the PUK co-presidency. [2] [3]

The August 2025 confrontation in Sulaymaniyah

On 22 August 2025 security forces arrested Lahur after hours of armed confrontation at the Lalezar, also rendered Lalazar, complex in Sulaymaniyah. Rudaw’s reporting describes the warrant, the deployment around the hotel and the fighting. The later 964media court report records at least five deaths and more than twenty wounded. Bafel and Qubad were complainants in the ensuing case, alleging a plot to kill Bafel and create unrest. Lahur denied the accusation. The deaths, warrant, accusation and denial are separate elements of the record; an account of a bitter political rivalry should not turn either side’s explanation into an established description of every event. [3] [4]

The court outcome reported on 15 October 2026

964media and Rudaw reported that Sulaymaniyah Criminal Court No. 2 sentenced Lahur to five years and three months in the conspiracy case. Other defendants received different sentences and two were acquitted. The reports distinguish this proceeding under Article 56 from a separate murder case that had not yet been decided in that coverage. Defence lawyer Dana Taqiyadin said the defence would appeal, challenged the evidence and alleged coerced confessions. Those objections are attributed to the defence; the reported conviction is also part of the record. This profile reflects the reports dated 15 October, without presenting an announced appeal as a completed reversal or the separate proceeding as already resolved. [4] [5]

Public positions and regional diplomacy in 2026

In his 1 June 2026 anniversary message, Bafel presented Iraqi sovereignty, the Kurdistan Region’s prosperity, Kurdish rights and balanced relations with neighbouring states as party priorities. At the MERI Forum on 12 October, a session listed by the organisers concerned Kurdish unity, security and regional partnerships. Rudaw’s report of his remarks records his argument that Kurdish leaders could help communication between Washington and Tehran, and his claim that sensitive assistance had already occurred. He declined to give details. These are documented public positions and claims about diplomacy, not independent proof of the undisclosed contacts or their results. [6] [7] [8]

Sources and further reading

  1. PUKMEDIA, “Bafel Jalal Talabani Re-Elected as PUK President”, 27 September 2023; first-party biographical account and leadership decisions in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
  2. Rudaw, “PUK officially names Bafel Talabani party president”, 28 August 2022; report based on the party statement, abolition of co-presidency and the 2021 security leadership changes.
  3. Didar Abdalrahman, “How the arrest of Lahur Talabany unfolded”, Rudaw, 22 August 2025; original reporting on the warrant, deployment and armed confrontation.
  4. 964media, “Lahur Sheikh Jangi gets five years in Lalazar conspiracy case”, 15 October 2026; court outcome, named complainants, defence statements and the distinction from the separate pending case.
  5. Rudaw, “Lahur Talabany, co-defendants sentenced to prison for ‘criminal conspiracy,’ lawyer says”, 15 October 2026; direct interview with defence lawyer Dana Taqiyadin, objections and announced appeal.
  6. Bafel Jalal Talabani, anniversary message reproduced by PUKMEDIA, 1 June 2026; primary statement on sovereignty, regional prosperity and neighbouring states.
  7. Middle East Research Institute, MERI Forum 2026 programme, 12–13 October; primary organiser record of Bafel Talabani’s session with Sarhang Hamasaeed.
  8. Rudaw, “PUK leader pitches Kurdish mediation in US-Iran conflict, peace talks with Tehran”, 12 October 2026; report and direct quotations from his MERI appearance.
  9. هەژیر ئیسماعیل لاله ئەحمەد, Bafel Talabani portrait, 29 July 2022, Wikimedia Commons; existing crop of the licensed original photograph, CC BY-SA 4.0.