Kirkuk Police Chief prevented from speaking Kurdish at press conference

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The head of Kirkuk police on Tuesday was prevented from speaking Kurdish at a press conference held in the city in the aftermath of Iraqi forces and Shia militia Hashd al-Shaabi’s advance in the province.

According to the officials, the press conference was held to inform the people of the city that “Kirkuk was in safe hands,” and to urge those who fled their homes to return.

During the press conference, Kurdish Police Chief Omar Khattab was told not to speak Kurdish by the commander of the Iraqi Tigris Operation Ali Fazil Omran.

“Speak in Arabic,” Omran insisted as the Police Chief began responding to a question asked in Kurdish by a reporter.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, Kurdish is an official language in the country alongside Arabic.

The new interim governor of Kirkuk, Rakan Ali al-Jabouri, was also introduced at the press conference following an afternoon meeting between Kirkuk’s security institutions as well as the Iraqi army.

Jabouri, an Arab, was appointed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi following the removal of former Kurdish governor Najmaldin Karim.

The interim governor revealed he would be in charge until a new appointment was made regarding the city’s local government.

“We have come not as liberators, but as part of the redeployment of the security institutions to the province of Kirkuk,” Omran addressed the media.

He added that security inside the city would be enforced by the province’s police forces, and the Iraqi army would be in charge of “protecting state installations, infrastructure, and would assume control of the province’s borders.”

On Monday, both Hashd al-Shaabi and Iraqi forces took control of Kirkuk, which has been under the protection of Peshmerga since mid-2014 after the Iraqi army collapsed and failed to defend the city from the Islamic State.

Editing by Ava Homa