PUK calls on Kurdish parties to recover the Kirkuk governor position

Shafaq News / Member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, former MP Jamal Shakour, called on Kurdish forces to cooperate to recover the Kirkuk governor position.

Shakour told Shafaq News agency that the Kirkuk governor position is part of the Kurdish community's share, noting that the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic party must cooperate to recover it and prevent the ongoing Arabization of Kirkuk.

He held the Federal government responsible for the deprivation of the Kurds in Kirkuk of their rights due to its reluctance and indifference to what is happening in the governorate.

The former MP warned from the escalation of Kirkuk's crises, including disputes over lands and entitlements, in addition to the marginalization that Kurds are subjected to. 

Shakour denied that the Presidential election file has negatively affected the PUK-KDP relations regarding the Kurds' entitlements in Kirkuk.

Kirkuk is a disputed territory that continued to fall outside the purview of the 11 March agreement, which reserved judgment on the territorial extent of the Kurdish autonomous region pending a new census. As a stalling maneuver, the Iraqi government agreed that the region’s final boundaries were to depend on whether the census showed that a proven majority of Kurds resided in the disputed areas.

The Kurds in Kirkuk say they are subjected to a systematic Arabization policy that aims to keep them away from state positions.