Kirkuk on edge as Arab-Turkmen tensions boil over

Shafaq News/ Security forces deployed heavily around the Kirkuk Governorate building on Tuesday ahead of a planned protest against the newly formed local government.

Shafaq News Agency’s correspondent reported that stringent security measures were put in place around the governorate building to prevent any unrest during the protest called by Arab and Turkmen leaders.

On Saturday, nine members of the Kirkuk Provincial Council—five from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), three Arabs, and one Christian—held a session at Baghdad’s Al-Rashid Hotel; they elected Rebwar Taha from the PUK as the new governor, and Mohammed Ibrahim Hafez, representing the Arab community, as council chairman.

The session was boycotted by the Turkmen, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and three Arab members, who criticized the legitimacy of the meeting.