KIRKUK, Kurdistan Region – Local authorities in the volatile city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq want political parties to move their offices elsewhere, blaming their presence for terrorist attacks that rocked the city as recently as last month.
“The Kirkuk Security Committee has made its final decision in this regard, and the number of political parties must be reduced,” said KSC head Ahmed Askari.
“There is an excessive number of political parties and political organizations with offices in the city. Many do not have the capacity to protect themselves. Therefore, this number has to be reduced,” he added.
“They have become a target for terrorist groups, therefore they have to relocate outside the city. This is to ensure the safety of civilians,” Askari said, noting that many such offices were located in the crowded heart of the city.
Ethnically-mixed and vastly rich in energy reserves, Kirkuk is at the center of a territorial dispute between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Region in northern Iraq.
In the most recent large attack in Kirkuk, at least 16 people were killed when suicide bombers and gunmen tried to storm a police headquarters in the city last month.
“It is difficult for party offices to relocate outside the cities. The organizations have to operate in the city,” Mohammed Kemal, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) in Kirkuk, told Rudaw.
He said that any political party that moves out of the cities would dramatically lose supporters there. “When we withdrew from the Hai-Askari neighborhood in Kirkuk, we lost a number of supporters in that neighborhood. To do political work, your presence in that place is a must,” Kemal said.
But Rawand Mala Mahmood, the PUK’s deputy head in Kirkuk, welcomed the idea.
“There are many party offices that are incapable of protecting themselves. In clear daylight, car bombs go off next to these offices,” he said, adding that his party has formed a committee to relocate some of its offices in the city.
“We have already relocated some of our offices, and will comply with any decision by the KSC,” Mahmood said.
