Handing Kirkuk to a Turkmen and the Future of the City.

Farman Mohammed Haji – Activist 

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), through a partisan decision, reached an agreement with the Turkmen Front in Kirkuk to hand the governorship of Kirkuk to the Turkmen component. They then selected an anti-Kurdish Sunni hardliner for that position — namely Mohammed Sam’an.

The rivalry between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the PUK over the presidency of the Republic caused the Kurds to lose the governorship of Kirkuk — a post that, by every measure, is more important to Kurds than anything else due to its immense symbolic and political weight. From now on, the future of Kirkuk will fall under the control of an ethno-nationalist, anti-Kurdish Turkmen figure who has a history of statements and actions against Kurds and the Kurdish character of Kirkuk. The people of Kurdistan — especially Kirkukis — are left wondering: what does the future hold for them and their city under this governor?

The PUK claims this decision was made to protect the rights of all components. However, it creates a grave danger for the city’s future, because the governor is the city’s top official and holds broad administrative and financial powers. Kurds in that city now face the very real risk that Turkey’s state plans could alter Kirkuk’s demographics and further erode Kurdish rights there.

The PUK, at the moment of handing Kirkuk over to a hardline Turkmen, should have first secured power-sharing deals with Kurds in Mosul, Diyala, and Saladin — as other components have done. The Turkmens of Kirkuk, with just two seats, consider themselves equal genuine partners, while Kurds — due to this bitter internal rivalry — have been unable to secure rights in Mosul, Diyala, and Saladin proportionate to what the Turkmen component now enjoys.

Sadly, because of this destructive rivalry between the KDP and PUK, Kurdish affairs in disputed areas are retreating day by day. Were it not for this bitter politics, how could a young Sunni Turkmen newcomer to politics be allowed to decide the fate of Kurds and Kirkuk? This poses a serious danger to the future of Kirkuk and its people, as this governor is an extremist figure who does not believe in Kurdish rights or Kirkuk’s Kurdish identity.