Iraq’s top court suspends KDP return to offices in Kirkuk

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s top court on Sunday decided to temporarily suspend the implementation of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's order for the Iraqi military’s Joint Operations Command (JOC) to hand over their offices in Kirkuk back to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), a day after the order incited bloodshed and chaos between the city’s different components.

An order from Sudani in August asked the JOC to evacuate their offices in Kirkuk and hand them over to the KDP to allow the Kurdish party to resume its political activities in the province. The buildings were used by the KDP prior to the expulsion of the Peshmerga forces from Kirkuk in October 2017 when Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) gained control of the province.

Sudani’s decision was strongly rejected by the PMF and their supporters, who set up tents and held sit-in protests near the JOC headquarters in Kirkuk, blocking the main Kirkuk-Erbil highway and vowing to continue demonstrations until the Iraqi premier revokes his decision and leaves the matter to the judiciary. The protesters claimed that the KDP’s return would be detrimental to the province’s security.

Footage emerged on social media depicting the PMF protesters disrespecting the flag of the Kurdistan Region and Kirkuk’s Peshmerga statue located near the JOC headquarters, further enraging the city’s Kurdish population who were already frustrated with the ongoing blockage of the key highway for nearly a week.

Dozens of Kurdish protesters in Kirkuk held demonstrations of their own on Saturday, which quickly developed into confrontations between the two sides. The Iraqi forces fired live ammunition to disperse the Kurdish protesters, killing at least four.

In light of the violence, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Sunday said that it had decided to suspend the implementation of Sudani’s order until a ruling was made on the lawsuits asking the court to cancel the order.

“In order to maintain security in Kirkuk province and give priority to national unity, peaceful coexistence and the public interest, this is a firm and binding decision for all authorities,” read a statement from the top court.

Kirkuk is a multiethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as an Assyrian minority. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a brazen offensive by the Islamic State (ISIS) group threatening the city. Kurds held Kirkuk until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum. While other Kurdish political parties remain active in Kirkuk, the KDP refused to return, saying the city was “occupied” by Shiite militias.

Iraq will hold provincial council elections on December 18, the first of their kind since 2013. While the elections will exclude the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, they are viewed by Kurdish parties as a key opportunity to regain a foothold in the strategic yet historically-disputed Kirkuk.