Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) considers itself and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) responsible for the failure of appointing a new Kirkuk governor. With the other Kurdish parties, they ask for interventions in order to solve the province’s disputes.
Today, Monday, January 27, 2020, with the presence of the Kurdish MPs, high officials of Kurdish parties except for KDP met to discuess several affairs of Kirkuk province including the issues of agricultural lands and unemployment.
After two hours of meeting, they issued a statement in which they asked Iraqi including Kurdistan region’s presidencies for interference on the issues.
Rawand Mula Mahmood, deputy head of PUK headquarter in Kirkuk, in a press conference stated that, “not appointing a governor was the fault of the Kurdish partiesm, in particular, the PUK and the KDP.”
He demonstrated that they could not reach an agreement among themselves. As a result, the appointment of a new governor was delayed.
While the PUK and KDP were negotiating to agree on a nominee for the governorship of Kirkuk, the Iraqi Council of Representative dissolved provincial councils, which had the power to elect new governors. The bill resulted from the nationwide social protests happening since last October.
The PUK and the KDP failed to nominate someone for the positions after months of negotiations. Eventually, they agreed on a nominee but he was rejected by the Arab and Turkmen parties.
Rakan Al Jabouri has become the acting governor of Kirkuk since October 16, 2017 when the Kurdish forces withdrew from the city.
In their meeting, the Kurdish parties agreed to form a committee that will arrange protests whenever “Kurdish rights are violated.”
Mahmood said, “we have agreed to stop violations of Kurdish and other ethnic groups’ rights, emphasized on peaceful coexistence, and asked for preventing the courts from randomly deciding on the Kurdish agricultural lands.”
Arab and Kurds of the city have disputed ownership of agricultural lands and their cases have been suspended for years.
They also discussed the recent Education Directorate’s employment. “We agreed not to allow monopolizations and the deprivation of people’s rights,” Mahmood added.
Last week, numerous Kurdish graduates protested Kurdish shares of recent employment in the education sector of the city.
Mahmood said, “the Kurdistan region’s three presidencies, president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament, should speak about Kirkuk’s problems and should not forget Kirkuk in their plans.”
The Kurdish parties will deliver a statement to Iraq and Kurdistan Region’s presidencies on the violations in Kirkuk and in particular the implementation of article 140 of the constitution.
