By Hiwa Hussamadin
KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – Arabs living in the disputed city of Kirkuk without permission are being expelled by order of the governor, Najmaldin Karim, but it is not clear how the order will be enforced and exactly who will have to leave.
“We have received orders from the governor and will start enforcing them from Monday, June 3,” Kirkuk police chief Orhan Abdulrahman told Rudaw.
Kirkuk’s provincial security commission says that all Arab families who came to Kirkuk to flee violence in their own regions must leave, claiming the areas they fled are now safe. But the city’s Arab officials argue that only families without proper government permits should be forced to leave.
But city officials insist they will only expel Arab families who have come to Kirkuk over the past 10 years, paving the way for implementation of constitutional Article 140 which stipulates that all Arab families leave Kirkuk province, and Kurds expelled under ousted dictator Saddam Hussein be helped back.
It is not clear how the authorities will compel families to leave Kirkuk, which falls among the disputed Iraqi territories that are claimed both by the Arab central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurds in the north.
Abdulrahman said that families who have settled in the city without consulting the authorities would be expelled, and he warned them not to return. “Any family that returns to Kirkuk after we have expelled them will be detained,” he warned.
Kirkuk’s police chief believes that the security situation in most provinces is better than that of Kirkuk and therefore there is no excuse for these families to stay any longer. “This decision by the governor will help reduce violence and stabilize Kirkuk,” he said.
Arab politicians, however, have stood against the governor’s decision.
“This decision by the governor and the security commission is meant to purge this Iraqi city of its Arab residents,” said Abdulrahman Murshid Assi, member of the Arab Assembly in Kirkuk. “It has nothing to do with the security of the city.”
Assi said that the solution for bad safety was a better police force, not kicking out Arab families.
“That’s why we reject this decree and will not allow it to be implemented,” he said. “If Iranian, Turkish and Syrian citizens can live freely in Kirkuk, why can’t Iraqis?” he asked.
But some Arab politicians have stood by the governor’s policy.
“It was we Arabs who encouraged the passing of this decree,” said Abdullah Sami Assi, member of the Arab Republic League in Kirkuk. “We sent our recommendation to the security commission a year ago and it was under discussion until now.”
He said the new law applied only to Arab families who have not properly registered with the police.
Other officials say that the governor’s decision is unconstitutional.
“The constitution says that Iraqi citizens can live in any part of the country they want,” said Omar al-Jibbouri, an Arab member of the provincial council. “It is not fair to blame these displaced families for the bad security situation in Kirkuk.” The authorities themselves are to blame, he said.
Jibbouri said he believed that Kurdish political parties who are in charge of Kirkuk’s security are behind this new policy.
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