KIRKUK, Iraq – Arab and Turkmen factions in Kirkuk’s provincial council won’t attend a scheduled February 18 council session in Erbil.
“This thing was an agreement between the two Kurdish parties. None of the Turkmen in the provincial council, according to my information, were consulted,” Raad Rushdi, member of the Turkmen faction, told Rudaw.
The Turkmen parties have nine seats in the council.
Rushdi added that the council is on a legislative break, thus meetings can’t be done anywhere else besides inside Kirkuk. “It won’t be legal,” he argued.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Tuesday decided to convene a Kirkuk provincial council meeting on February 18. The council has been paralyzed since Iraqi forces took control of the disputed provinces and the Kurdish parties left. The KDP has not returned.
The two parties also agreed on how to appoint a new governor for Kirkuk, replacing the interim one appointed by Baghdad in October 2017.
Nine Arab parties, holding a collective six seats, are divided on whether or not they’ll participate in the scheduled meeting.
“The internal bylines have to be used so that it gives the session legitimacy. As for the content of the session and electing a new governor, or a new administration, we hold onto laws and legitimacy and Kirkuk’s supreme interests,” Hatem Taaii, spokesperson for the Kirkuk Arab Council, told Rudaw.
"I am sure, when it is held in Kirkuk, both groups will participate," Ismael al-Hadidi, leader in the United Arab Front, told Rudaw, adding that as a "principle," meetings have to be in Kirkuk for greater legitimacy.
He doesn't believe either of the Arab groups will attend the meeting in Erbil, but thinks it could serve as an initiative to reactive the council.
"From my point of view, I see it as a 'pulling things together' for the [Kurdish] Brotherhood List, considering it is the biggest list in the Kirkuk Provincial Council," he explained.
He is happy to see the council resume work, "but there has to be consensus with the Turkmen and Arab groups."
The PUK, which secured nearly half of the seats up for grabs in Kirkuk in last year’s parliamentary elections, has maintained that it is entitled to fill the post of governor. It was a PUK man who was forced out of the post by Baghdad in October 2017.
In addition to the governorship, Kurds have lost nearly 45 administrative and security positions in Kirkuk since it came under federal control.
The PUK hopes that trend will reverse if the parties return to Kirkuk.
“The return of the political parties, especially the Kurdistan Democratic Party, to Kirkuk is an important step in order for the positions to return [to Kurds], whether based on electoral gains or the population share of Kirkuk,” Bestun Zangana, PUK’s faction MP in the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw, pointing out that Kurds make up roughly half the population.
The KDP has said it won’t return to Kirkuk as long as it remains “occupied” by Iraqi forces. Their offices have been co-opted by Iraqi forces.
Erbil and Baghdad are also discussing their respective forces working together again in the disputed areas. They are making progress in talks about joint patrols to combat ISIS militants who have taken advantage of security gaps between the Iraqi forces and Peshmerga.
Reporting from Hiwa Hussamadin.