`` They are asking about the resources and the money . Who is spending it . And who is in charge of the income of the party . '' `` It 's not good , '' said Mahmoud Othman , a member of the Iraqi Parliament and an independent Kurdish politician . `` The PUK is one of the main two -LSB- Kurdish -RSB- players , '' he added . `` A problem like this will upset the whole situation . '' Iraqi Kurdistan broke free from Baghdad 's control after the 1991 Gulf War . Since then , the region has been divided between two rival Kurdish factions , Talabani 's PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party , led by Massoud Barzani . For several years throughout the 1990s , the groups battled each other in the mountains and valleys of northern Iraq . Those historic divisions faded somewhat following the United States ' overthrow of Hussein . For the past five years , the Kurds have worked together in Baghdad to enhance the Kurdish region 's position in Iraq . Kurdish politicians deftly took advantage of divisions between Sunni and Shi'a Arab factions . They successfully lobbied to
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The second-highest ranking official in Iraqi President Jalal Talabani 's political party resigned Saturday , along with four other high-ranking Kurdish politicians , officials said . Iraqi President Jalal Talabani could be jeopardized by the resignations of five key members of his party . Khosrat Rasul , the vice president of the Kurdistan Regional Government , resigned , along with four other members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -LRB- PUK -RRB- , according to Kurdish lawmakers . Rasul is a battle-scarred veteran of Kurdish rebellions against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein . Kurdish members of the Iraqi Parliament say the resignations threaten the delicate balance of power in Iraqi Kurdistan , a semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq . It has been the most stable part of the country since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion . `` It looks very serious , '' said Ala Talabani , the president 's niece and a PUK member , as well as a member of Parliament . She spoke by phone from the Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniya , long a stronghold of the PUK . `` It 's about corruption , '' Ala Talabani said of the resignations .