The elections held in the Kirkuk Provincial Council turned controversial when the Turkmen, KDP and 3 Arab members of the 16-seat council boycotted the vote. Only 5 PUK, 3 Arab and 1 Christian members participated in the vote. As a result of this vote, PUK’s Rebvar Taha was elected as governor, while Arab member Muhammed Hafez was elected as the speaker of the council.
Kirkuk is Turkish territory; However, the fact that Turkmens were ignored in this meeting caused a huge backlash. The President of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) Hasan Turan stated that they did not recognize this meeting and that they would take legal action to have it cancelled. Turan said the following: “The meeting and election held in Baghdad are invalid. The Kirkuk local government was established outside the Kirkuk governing coalition formed by the Prime Minister. This situation is a political violation. Mr. Rekan Ciburi is the chairman of the meeting as the oldest member; However, he was not aware of the meeting. “I do not think the Prime Minister was aware of this situation either.”
Eyüp Kerem, the Chairman of the Iraqi Turks Association, said: “Kurds and Arabs gained the right to be represented, but Turkmens were completely left out of the game. Negotiations had been going on for 1-2 weeks. “They invited us, but since the PUK was in close contact with the PKK, we never considered cooperation.”He spoke as follows.
Kirkuk’s former appointed governor, Rekan Ciburi, has announced the governorship elections “Betrayal of the Arabs in Kirkuk”He stated that they will take legal action by defining themselves as “Turks”. This situation once again revealed how important the representation of Turkmens and other ethnic groups in Kirkuk is.
