KDP recovers offices, hands over one to University of Kirkuk

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Following six years of physical absence, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) officially recovered its offices on Sunday in Kirkuk and gave its headquarters to the University of Kirkuk in a bid to support the education sector in the oil-rich province.

In a ceremony held at the KDP’s Kirkuk-Garmiyan Leadership Council, which had been turned into the headquarters of Kirkuk Joint Operations Command since 2017, the party officials handed over the building to the University of Kirkuk as a “gift”.

KDP President Masoud Barzani has recently decided the building, which was recovered to the party per a court ruling, to be given to the university that will from now on use it for its oil engineering college, among other purposes.

The Iraqi military has taken over the party offices across the province following the 2017 independence referendum, which was also held in the disputed territories that include Kirkuk and Mosul.

The party also recovered its 3rd Branch office, where it will officially resume operations ahead of the Dec. 18 provincial council.

“We wholeheartedly appreciate President Masoud Barzani’s beautiful initiative,” Dr. Omran Jamal Hassan, president of the University of Kirkuk, said at a presser, attended by Iraqi parliament’s deputy speaker Shakawan Abdulla, a KDP member.

Mohammad Kamal, the head of Kirkuk 3rd Branch, vowed that his party will “serve all communities and components.”

Additional reporting conducted by Kurdistan 24 Kirkuk correspondents Soran Kamaran and Hemin Dalo