Kirkuk Representatives of Arabs and Turkmen rejected the return of the Peshmerga to Kirkuk and harm the gains made after implementing the law enforcement plan, while they demanded the postponement of the Kirkuk parliamentary elections.

This came during a press conference held at the presidency of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, in the presence of parliament members Muhammad Tamim, Arshad Al-Salihi and Khaled Al-Mafraji, during which the head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Hassan Turan, delivered a joint statement.

They explained in the statement that at a time when Kirkuk governorate enjoys clear security stability after law enforcement operations in October 2017, some parties are trying to exploit ISIS attacks on the villages around Daquq district and Al-Rashad district, south of Kirkuk, in preparation for changing the security equation in Kirkuk governorate and bringing in Peshmerga forces within the governorate’s administrative borders. .

In their statement, they stressed that this dangerous step is in violation of the Iraqi constitution and the decision of the Iraqi parliament, and the Arab and Turkmen components see it as part of the political deals to return Kirkuk to the days of kidnappings, arrests and assassinations.

He added that the government should eliminate the ISIS gangs present in some areas of the province by bringing in the Federal Counter-Terrorism Service and units of the Iraqi army, not by taking steps that affect the constitutional status of Kirkuk province and fulfill the wishes of some political parties for electoral purposes, which escalated their discourse for the purpose of electoral gain at the expense of community security in Kirkuk and the destruction of the social fabric in it through allegations that have no basis in geography or history.

They warned the government that the Turkmen and Arab components will not stand idly by, and “we will resort to all constitutional options to object to the return of the Peshmerga to Kirkuk, in addition to the administrative violations that the province is witnessing in the Kirkuk Electoral Commission office, which works in favor of a partisan agenda and work to repeat what happened in the 2018 elections.

The Arab and Turkmen components demanded the postponement of the Kirkuk elections for a period of one week, provided that they take place under the supervision and oversight of the Council of Commissioners, and to invite all international observers to monitor the elections in this province, which is distinguished by its privacy and diversity. Urging all concerned parties to distance Kirkuk from the convulsive discourse and to take transparent measures to ensure the integrity of the electoral process.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency