An Iraqi parliamentary and governmental delegation has warned the Kirkuk local administration that protests could break out in the province against the lack of services, corruption and discrimination, stressing that “the Iraqi government would not be able to contain the anger of protestors.”
The warnings came following a visit to Kirkuk on Monday with the aim of preparing a report on the situation in Kirkuk.
"The consequences of the citizens’ anger are too heavy for the government to contain. PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi should have embarked on needed reforms soon after he took office," said Almas Fazil, a member of the delegation and a representative of Kirkuk in the Iraqi parliament.
“What we are witnessing today in Iraq is the result of the problems which have been accumulating over the past years, and the demands of people should not be ignored. Kirkuk is not far from these problems and we should work seriously to address the problems.”
The joint government and parliamentary committee chaired by the minister of Youths and Sports met with the acting governor of Kirkuk Rakan Saeed al-Jiburi and community representatives.
Meanwhile, Bestoon Adil, member of the joint committee, speaking to KirkukNow said, “If the situation in Kirkuk remains unchanged it is very likely that protests will break out in Kirkuk as well."
In their meeting with the acting governor Kirkuk MPs called for avoiding discrimination between the neighborhoods according to the residents’ ethnic backgrounds.
The committee also called for ensuring balance in the provision of job opportunities in energy, security and education sectors among all the different components of the province.
"We reject the allocation of 32% of job opportunities for each of the Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen component because it is not in the benefit of the Kurds who form a majority of the population,” said Bestoon Adil.
On October 2, 2019 dozens of Kirkuk residents took to the streets to show support to the anti-government protests in Baghdad and other provinces against corruption and unemployment.
