KDP given 'green light' to return to Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have both given the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)  the “green light” to return to Kirkuk city, the head of the KDP office in  Kirkuk told Rudaw English on Tuesday.

The KDP is the largest party in the KRG, and is the majority party in its stronghold Erbil and Dohuk provinces.  An ethnically diverse city, Kirkuk is home to various groups including Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen and Assyrians.

Mohammed Khursheed, head of the KDP office in Kirkuk, revealed that the party will return to Kirkuk soon, after both the KRG and Iraqi government showed acceptance to the move.

“The KRG and Iraqi government have given us the green light  to return to our main office in Kirkuk” Khursheed said. “However, the KDP will not return to Kirkuk as long as the Shiite militias are present inside the city, as for now Kirkuk is still occupied in the eyes of the KDP.”

"Shiite militias" refers to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic.

Khursheed also said that the Iraqi federal police are the only forces that should be in charge of security inside the city of Kirkuk, and the rest should be stationed out of the city.

“Stability should return to Kirkuk, and only the federal police should be in charge of that,” Khursheed added.

The KDP is the only Kurdish political party that has not returned to Kirkuk since Iraqi forces retook the city from the Kurdish Peshmerga in 2017 following the Kurdistan independence referendum. The KDP also boycotted the May 12 Iraqi parliamentary elections in Kirkuk, calling the city “occupied and sold out” due to the presence of Iraqi forces.

Dozens of young protesters gathered in front of the vacant KDP office in Kirkuk, which is home to the joint operation forces, on Tuesday. They refused the return of the KDP and the handing over of the office to the political party. The protesters were holding anti-KDP and anti-Kurdish forces  (Asayish) posters, along with Iraqi flags. 

Acting Kirkuk province Governor Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri told Rudaw late Tuesday that the KDP office in Kirkuk is now “home” to the Iraqi  joint operation forces, and they are not planning to vacate the office. The joint operation forces, formed in February 2019 without the Kurdish Peshmerga, include federal police forces, PMF, counter-terrorism forces and army units.

Jabouri said if the KDP does come back to the disputed city, relations between different groups in the city could become strained.

“The KDP has all the right to return to Kirkuk, but their return to the city and getting back their previous office will trigger a new wave of tensions inside the city,” al-Jabouri said. “I hope the joint operation forces will remain inside the office in Kirkuk,” he added.

Al-Jabouri said that the joint operation forces are essential for Kirkuk's stability, and forcing them to leave the office to make way for the KDP will leave the people of Kirkuk very “upset and angry.”

Khursheed referred to the protesters in Kirkuk on Tuesday as “young trouble makers,” and believes that there is a political agenda driving the anti-KDP protests in Kirkuk in order to achieve their interests and prevent the KDP from returning to the city. 

Kirkuk is one of the territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad.  Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of disputed territories by 2007, but little progress has been made in the implementation of the article, which calls for a census and referendum in these areas to establish whether residents want to remain part of federal Iraq or join the Kurdistan Region.

Kirkuk was under Peshmerga control from 2014, when the city was under threat from ISIS. In October 2017, the Iraqi Army and the PMF launched an offensive, forcing the Peshmerga out of Kirkuk following the independence referendum implemented in the city by the Kurds.