Shafaq News- Kirkuk

Kirkuk is facing a leadership vacuum following former Governor Mohammed Samaan Agha’s recent appointment as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, with the Iraqi Turkmen Front seeking to retain the governorship by nominating a successor, Kirkuk’s first deputy governor, Rebwar Taha, said on Sunday.

“We are dealing with the situation in Kirkuk in accordance with the law. The daily affairs of citizens must continue. We cannot allow this situation to persist,” Taha told reporters.

Taha is serving as acting governor until political blocs and the Provincial Council agree on a successor. No candidate has been formally nominated for the position.

Often described as a mirror of Iraq’s complexity, Kirkuk is home to Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, and other minorities. Under a previous political agreement, the governorship was to rotate annually among the province’s main communities until the end of the four-year term and the next local elections in Iraq. Taha described the arrangement as a necessity under the current circumstances.

“Managing Kirkuk, or any other province, in this way will not be possible in the future. The province should be administered through genuine partnership,” he added.

A political source told Shafaq News on Saturday that Mardin Kok Kaya and Qahtan Al-Wandawi have emerged as the leading candidates to succeed Agha following his appointment to Iraq’s federal cabinet.

Agha has already taken the constitutional oath and is expected to formally submit his resignation to the Kirkuk Provincial Council, which will vote on his successor.

Read more: Discover Iraq: Kirkuk, a city of oil, culture, and conflict