Kirkuk’s top Kurdish parties earned a combined seven spots on the 16-seat council in December’s local elections: the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) has five seats, and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has two.
Following a high-level meeting in Sulaimani’s Dabashan in early February, the two parties said that they agreed on the need to appoint a Kurdish governor for Kirkuk. They have yet to announce any steps towards cooperation.
Speaking to Rudaw’s Ranj Sangawi, Siddiq Ahmed, deputy secretary of the Kurdistan Communist Party (KCP), said that addressing the current disagreements between the KDP and the PUK in Kirkuk lies with the Kurdish leadership.
"The Kurds in Kirkuk are divided and the reality of the Kurdistan Region is reflected in Kirkuk,” said Ahmed, “the Kurdish political leadership needs to find a solution for the Kirkuk issue and the KDP and the PUK need to agree on appointing a Kurdish governor.”
The KCP official claimed that the current dispute between the two parties is detrimental to the Kurdish cause in Kirkuk, warning that if the parties do not resolve their differences, they stand to lose the support of the province’s Kurdish population.
“There is no trust between the PUK and KDP, which has affected the social, political and security process in Kirkuk… if the situation continues like this, in the upcoming elections, the PUK and KDP will lose the votes they have gained in this one.”
The Kirkuk provincial council’s failure to appoint a governor in two months has led Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani to hold two separate meetings with Kirkuk’s winning political forces in Baghdad.
The premier chaired a meeting on Sunday, in which the parties agreed to work towards presenting “a single working document” within two weeks that would establish a framework for cooperation and expedite the process of setting a governor.
Ahmed described Sudani’s meeting with the winning factions as “an injustice to Kurds,” stressing that the affairs of the council should have never been placed in the hands of the prime minister.
Arabs have six seats on the council and the Turkmens have two. They are expected to join forces within the council, forming a strong eight-seat opposition challenging the Kurds’ ambition to return a Kurdish governor to the province.
Ali Qallayi, head of the PUK’s Kirkuk-Salahaddin election center, said that he has warned his party’s leadership that the Kurds could lose the majority vote in Kirkuk to the Arabs by the time for the 2032 elections, due to the latter group’s rapidly increasing population in the province.
He also noted that it was necessary for Kurds to make a strategic agreement with the Turkmens “since the Turkmens do not pose a threat to the Kurdish ethnic security in the city because of two reasons: One, due to the size of their population, and two, because they have never invaded a meter of Kurdish land.”
Qahtan al-Wandawi, the Kirkuk head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, told Rudaw in late February that the position of the disputed province’s governor should be rotated between the city's components.
Qallayi stressed that it was necessary for the two parties to set differences aside and agree on a united strategy, with special focus on fighting for the disputed areas.
“The PUK wants a new strategic agreement with the KDP which encompasses the Kurdistan Region and all of Iraq, and the KDP has the same request, but the KDP views the PUK smaller than it actually is,” said the PUK official.
Taha Taifur, senior KDP cadre, said that it was necessary for the KDP and the PUK to work together in Kirkuk, as the Kurdish parties have gained a reputation of “being more focused on attacking one another than working for their cause.”
"The people of Kirkuk are different from the people of Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok. The Kurds in Kirkuk have always made sacrifices and been a shield for these cities. That is why these two parties need to make sacrifices for Kirkuk and reach an agreement so that the Kurds of this city are no longer ridiculed,” he added.
Taifur stressed that a Kurdish governor needs to be appointed, regardless of whether they are KDP or PUK.
The two Kurdish parties have seven seats on the council. The winner of the minority quota, Injeel al-Barwari, is reportedly linked to the PUK, which could mean the council is evenly split if the Kurdish parties can work together, but that remains uncertain as they are feuding over economic and governance issues in the Kurdistan Region and have not cooperated in Kirkuk for years.
Sayed Hassan, a well-known Kirkuk figure, said if the Kurdish parties fail to reach an agreement, they would further lose the support of the Kurdish voters in Kirkuk as they have neglected the Kurdish issue in the city.
"Of the 28 neighborhoods in Kirkuk, 23 are entirely Kurdish. Not all Kurds went to vote in the provincial council elections because they are broken hearted with the parties. The PUK and KDP must put aside their differences in Kirkuk,” said Hassan.
Kirkuk saw the highest turnout across Iraq for provincial elections on December 18, with 65 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. This was the first time since 2005 that Kirkuk held provincial elections.
Two amendments made to the provincial council elections law in May, which apply only to Kirkuk, make it difficult to predict who will fill the province’s governor seat next.
One amendment states that “the results of the elections shall not act as a legal or administrative basis to determine the future of Kirkuk province.”
“Power shall be distributed in a fair representation which guarantees the participation of the province’s components regardless of the results of the elections,” reads another amendment.
