Iraq
Hatim al-Tai, spokesperson for the Arab Coalition in Kirkuk, speaks during a press conference on March 22, 2023. Photo: Rudaw/screengrab
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Arab and Turkmen components of Kirkuk on Wednesday accused the Kurdish component of carrying out demographic change while in charge of the province before 2017, calling for amending the provincial council elections law.
Iraq’s provincial councils were dissolved in 2019, in response to the demands of the Tishreen protesters who believed the system was a failure and did not achieve anything apart from enabling corruption.
The country is set to reactivate the councils and hold new provincial council elections this year, which would mark the first time the vote has been held since 2013.
Representatives of the Arab and Turkmen parties in Kirkuk held a joint press conference on Wednesday, announcing their refusal to pass the provincial council elections law without the inclusion of a new amendment, Article 35, which relates to checking the validity of the province’s voter registry.
The representatives blamed “demographic change” by previous administrations for Kirkuk’s inability to hold provincial council elections since 2005.
“Kirkuk is an Iraqi province just like all the others. It was subjected to demographic change policies by all the administrations prior to October 16, 2017. The Kurdish brothers also conducted wide demographic change, especially after 2003 until 2017,” said Hatim al-Tai, spokesperson for the Arab Coalition in Kirkuk, during the presser.
The parties said they have verified the existence of nearly 300,000 voters in the electoral registry that are from outside of Kirkuk, with some even being from outside of Iraq.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Kurds held the city until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
Tai denied that Arabs have carried out any demographic change in the province since 2017.
The Iraqi parliament is yet to vote on all the articles of the provincial council elections law, but the lawmakers on Monday agreed to conduct the polls on November 6.
Article 122 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution stipulates that the provincial council “shall not be subject to the control or supervision of any ministry or any institution not linked to a ministry,” adding that it shall have independent finances.
Iraq’s provincial councils were dissolved in 2019, in response to the demands of the Tishreen protesters who believed the system was a failure and did not achieve anything apart from enabling corruption.
The country is set to reactivate the councils and hold new provincial council elections this year, which would mark the first time the vote has been held since 2013.
Representatives of the Arab and Turkmen parties in Kirkuk held a joint press conference on Wednesday, announcing their refusal to pass the provincial council elections law without the inclusion of a new amendment, Article 35, which relates to checking the validity of the province’s voter registry.
The representatives blamed “demographic change” by previous administrations for Kirkuk’s inability to hold provincial council elections since 2005.
“Kirkuk is an Iraqi province just like all the others. It was subjected to demographic change policies by all the administrations prior to October 16, 2017. The Kurdish brothers also conducted wide demographic change, especially after 2003 until 2017,” said Hatim al-Tai, spokesperson for the Arab Coalition in Kirkuk, during the presser.
The parties said they have verified the existence of nearly 300,000 voters in the electoral registry that are from outside of Kirkuk, with some even being from outside of Iraq.
Kirkuk is a multi-ethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen. The city was under joint administration before 2014, when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of the Islamic State (ISIS) group. Kurds held the city until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) independence referendum.
Tai denied that Arabs have carried out any demographic change in the province since 2017.
The Iraqi parliament is yet to vote on all the articles of the provincial council elections law, but the lawmakers on Monday agreed to conduct the polls on November 6.
Article 122 of the 2005 Iraqi constitution stipulates that the provincial council “shall not be subject to the control or supervision of any ministry or any institution not linked to a ministry,” adding that it shall have independent finances.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment