The “election” of a new governor in Iraq’s ethnically diverse Kirkuk irked the country’s Turkmen community, which called for protests.
A member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) said Monday that a recent meeting of the Kirkuk provincial council at which a new governor and council speaker were elected was illegal and they would await a decision by the country’s top court on the matter.
“We were surprised that after more than seven months of local elections, the Kirkuk local government’s situation is being handled in Baghdad,” said Erşat Salihi in a statement. The meeting, held Saturday at Baghdad’s Al-Rasheed Hotel, excluded key ethnic groups, including Turkmens.
Emphasizing that they would not abandon the Kirkuk issue, Salihi added: “We will wait for the outcome of the ITC’s application to the Federal Court for the annulment of the Kirkuk governorship and council speaker election.” The ITC had filed a petition with Iraq’s highest judicial authority, the Federal Supreme Court, to annul the election.
Later in the day, the ITC also called for a protest against the new local administration in Kirkuk, which excludes the representation of Turkmens in the Kirkuk governorate and provincial council.
Objections were raised against the fact that the elections for the Kirkuk governorate and provincial council presidencies were held in Baghdad and that Turkmen were not represented, said the ITC in a statement. The ITC said they do not recognize the meeting and voting outcome and announced that they would organize a protest on Tuesday.
The statement called on all Turkmens to participate in the protest, which was scheduled for the evening in front of the Kirkuk governorate building, in order to address this injustice against the Turkmens, who are a fundamental element of Iraq and Kirkuk.
On Aug. 10, members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, including five members from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), three Arabs and one Christian, gathered at a hotel in Baghdad to vote for the governorship and council speaker positions.
The participants supported PUK member Rebvar Taha for the governorship and Arab member Mohammed Hafiz for the council speaker position. The PUK claimed in a statement that Taha was “elected” governor. The Turkmens, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) members and three Arab members of the Kirkuk Council boycotted the vote and did not attend the meeting. The Kirkuk Provincial Council consists of 16 seats.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Türkiye also opposed the election. Party spokesperson Ömer Çelik told reporters on Monday that it was wrong to exclude Turkmens and Arab groups by fait accompli. “This is not good for an Iraq that needs a policy embracing all. It is not good for Kirkuk. We always opposed any approach excluding Turkmens,” he said.
