In an attempt to prevent the outbreak of bloody clashes between the city’s residents, the Iraqi President, Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, on Saturday called on all parties in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, to refrain from threats and the use of force.
Rasheed’s call comes in conjunction with the government’s imposition of a curfew in the city, which is witnessing skirmishes and counter-demonstrations, between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen, in a dispute between them over control of security headquarters in the city, which resulted in the death of one person and the injury of others.
A political researcher and security expert from Iraq talks to “Sky News Arabia” about what they see as the reasons that sparked this crisis, amid warnings of terrorist gangs exploiting the events.
Crisis details
The Iraqi political analyst, Yassin Aziz, tells the sequence of events:
- The demonstrations began with the encouragement of Arab and Turkmen parties in the city. In protest against the decision to return the headquarters of the Kirkuk Leadership Council to the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which has been occupied since the events of October 16, 2017 by the Kirkuk Operations Command (in reference to the events of the armed confrontations between the central Iraqi forces and Kurdish forces over control of the province after a referendum conducted by the Kurdistan region to secede from Iraq)
- These protests led to the blocking of the main road linking Kirkuk and Erbil, and on Saturday Kurdish demonstrations took place in the city, calling for an end to the roadblocks.
- Clashes took place between the Kurdish demonstrators, the police, and the forces of the Shiite Popular Mobilization factions, which led to shooting, killing a demonstrator, and injuring others, and now the city police announced a curfew until Sunday morning.
- The return of the 33 headquarters of the Democratic Party negatively affects the rest of the parties (representing the rest of the city’s ethnicities, including Arabs, Turkmen, and others), especially since Iraq is on the cusp of the provincial elections scheduled for December 18, and the party’s return means a great momentum for it in the city.
Worried about gangs
In turn, the security expert, Mokhaled Hazem Al-Darb, warns that “terrorist gangs” will take advantage of the events and the security defect to launch attacks that will inflame the situation.
Regarding his vision of the causes of the current tension in Kirkuk, he says:
- Within the terms of the political agreement between the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government, which are included in the government platform (program), allowing the Kurdish parties to return to carrying out their work in Kirkuk after losing these headquarters in 2017.
With the elections approaching, the KDP wanted to return to its headquarters, but when members of it went to a headquarters affiliated with joint operations, called the advanced headquarters for operations, confusion arose.
- I believe that the confusion is behind the spread of rumors by Shiite and Kurdish parties that the party’s return is a prelude to the return of the Peshmerga (Kurdish forces).
- To prevent this, Arabs and Turkmen came out and gathered in front of the headquarters to prevent members of the Democratic Party from entering, given that it represents the force today the military force to protect Kirkuk, and they do not want the Peshmerga forces to return to this site.
- This was followed, on Saturday, by the emergence of counter-demonstrations by the Kurds present in Kirkuk against what the Arabs and Turkmen did, and the clash began, and it may develop into clashes.
- Therefore, the security forces rushed to impose a curfew before the situation deteriorated, and terrorist gangs intervened to exploit it.
The latest developments
- President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid, calls on all parties to refrain from any threat or use of force in Kirkuk.
- In a statement, Rashid warned that failure to resolve differences through dialogue will give terrorist gangs an opportunity to spill Iraqi blood, according to the Iraqi News Agency.
- The Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, orders the imposition of a curfew in Kirkuk, and calls on all actors to take their part in averting strife.
- Al-Sudani orders the security forces to take their role in enforcing the law against rioters, and not to allow anyone other than security men to carry weapons, according to a spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
- The President of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, condemned the riots in a statement, calling on Al-Sudani to intervene.
- In turn, Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, warned against escalation, defending the Kurds, saying in a statement: “These actions are totally unacceptable, and they will have bad results, and the bloodshed of our sons in Kirkuk will have a heavy price” after the killing of a Kurd.
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