Kirkuk's acting governor summoned to answer for 'targeting' of Kurdish population
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Second Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Bashir Hadad, has called on the acting governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jabouri, to appear in Baghdad because of the problems the Kurdish population is facing in the region and its surrounding area, a source told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday.
The source said Jabouri and “some Kirkuk officials” met with Hadad and several parliamentarians from Kirkuk on Wednesday to address the Arabization process in the region, which directly affects the Kurdish population who face countless other difficulties.
Kurds in Kirkuk have complained of mistreatment and racist policies by the local administration, citing the unjust removal of Kurdish officials from their posts.
According to the source in Baghdad, Jabouri has “to provide legal justification for his actions, and the reasons Kurdish officials are being targeted.”
Another segment of the meeting addressed the reasons why municipality services, such as garbage disposal and the maintenance of roads and infrastructure, are being neglected in Kirkuk’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods, he added.
“The parliament members who attended are expected to decide on whether or not to hold a parliamentarian session [in Baghdad] regarding the current situation in Kirkuk and its surroundings.”
These issues arose after the military takeover of Kirkuk and other disputed territories on Oct. 16, 2017, by Iraqi security forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias. A move that was in response to the Kurdistan Region’s historic independence referendum just weeks before. Baghdad’s military move eventually led to Jabouri, an ethnically Sunni Arab, replacing Najmaldin Karim, a Kurd, as acting governor.
Jabouri has been charged with corruption, but he, nonetheless, continues to hold the position of provincial governor.
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The Kurdish community in Kirkuk has suffered countless injustices since then, particularly being forced to leave their homes with self-proclaimed owners of Arab descent using the same deeds issued during Saddam Hussein’s reign.
An oil-rich province, Kirkuk has not had local elections since 2005 because of a lack of consensus on a unified law between its ethnic and religious groups.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany