Khurmatu IDPs call for deployment of UN peacekeeping forces

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Displaced families from Khurmatu, located in the south of Kirkuk, held a protest on Sunday and called on the UN, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and the Federal Government of Iraq to help facilitate their safe return.

Following the Oct. 16 attack and takeover of Kirkuk province by Iraqi Forces and Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias, a large number of people from Kirkuk and Khurmatu were forcibly displaced to the Kurdistan Region, most of the victims being Kurds.

On Sunday, hundreds of displaced persons from Khurmatu protested in Garmiyan, calling for the international community to help them safely return to their ancestral lands and to expedite the stabilization of the region.

Hundreds of houses in Khurmatu have been destroyed, burned down, and looted since the Oct. 16 assault.

During the protest, a representative read the demands of the displaced from the hotly contested town, directed at the international community, the Federal Government of Iraq, and the KRG. They asked for urgent aid in allowing people to return to their homes as temperatures in the Kurdistan Region begin to drop.

They also called on the formation of a committee to resolve issues in Khurmatu and compensate the people whose lives and properties were severely disrupted and affected by the use of armed force by Baghdad.

The protesters also urged the normalization of the situation and to bring “peace and social justice to the area.”

Most importantly, they asked for the “deployment of a neutral force to be in charge of Khurmatu’s security and protect all the inhabitants of the town regardless of their ethnic and religious background.”

“Even the UN peacekeeping forces if needed,” the statement concluded.

The town is located in the south of Kirkuk, with a diverse ethnic and religious population and a Kurdish majority. Khurmatu is historically claimed to be one of the last towns in the Kurdistan Region located on the administrative border of the Federal Government of Iraq and is currently under the control of Baghdad.

Editing by Nadia Riva