Nechirvan Barzani: ‘The next Kirkuk governor must be a Kurd’

ERBIL (Kurdistan Region) – The next governor of Kirkuk must be Kurdish, the Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani said on Tuesday.

"The next governor of Kirkuk must be a Kurd and serve all the components," of that region, Barzani told a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) campaign rally in the Kurdistan Region capital Erbil on Tuesday. 

"We are very unhappy with the current situation in Kirkuk and with its administration because it is an imposed administration, not one that is elected by the people of Kirkuk," Barzani said.

Kirkuk's demographics have been altered by Arabization campaigns throughout the decades.

"It's hard to be Kurdistani, and it's hard to be Kirkuki," Barzani said. "We are all Kirkukis." 

The incumbent administration in Kirkuk has lowered the standard of services in the disputed province and fired Kurds from their jobs positions merely for being Kurdish, he said. 

"The Kurds are banned from participating in Kirkuk's administration, and the majority of our Turkmen brothers are also not happy with this administration," Barzani added. 

"We want to determine Kirkuk's fate through the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution," Barzani said. "Those who stand against implementing Article 140 are against stability and coexistence." 

Article 140, which was supposed to be implemented by December 31, 2007, calls for resolving Kirkuk's disputed status through a referendum of the region's native population. It was never implemented. 

Barzani said the KDP wants Kirkuk's oil and natural resources to be used for developing that region and creating jobs for its youth. 

Since Iraq militarily seized Kirkuk from the Kurdish Peshmerga on October 16, 2017, the province has been governed by Arab political parties. Several Kurds have since been dismissed from government positions there, and Arab families were moved into the province to alter its demographics in what appears to be another Arabization campaign.