KDP, PUK at continued loggerheads over Kirkuk governor appointment
Ali’s remarks directly contradict Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) claims that there has been a long-established agreement for the appointment of former PUK senior member Faraydun Abdulqadir.
The KDP-PUK deadlock comes while violence flares in Kirkuk. In recent weeks, several deadly explosions have rocked the city, and swathes of Kurdish-owned farmland have been subject to arson in what some have claimed to be part of the Arabization of disputed territories in northern Iraq.
“It was decided [on March 4] that Mr. Masoud [Barzani, KDP leader] and I would handle the files of Kirkuk … a long time has passed since then and the KDP-PUK relations deteriorated. I later saw Mr. Masoud [Barzani] and we spoke, but we did not talk about Faraydon Abdulqadir or any others," Ali told reporters at the grave of PUK founder Jalal Talabani as the party yesterday marked its 44th anniversary.
Ali has served as acting head of the PUK since the death of Jalal Talabani on October 3, 2017. The PUK is yet to hold a long-delayed congress to elect its new leader. The delay has left room for power-struggles within the party roughly aligned between the Talabani portion and Rasul wing.
On March 4, the KDP and PUK had reached an agreement to speed up the formation of the then yet to be formed regional government. One point of consensus was the urgent necessity to fill the role of Kirkuk governor. The KDP had, in principle, conceded to the PUK's demand that the governor of Kirkuk must be a PUK member.
However, the KDP has instead backed the governorship of Abdulqadir, a former PUK politburo member who is currently partyless. The PUK is allegedly reluctant to back his governorship because he is no longer part of the PUK.
Despite this, the KDP said Abdulqadir had long been agreed upon as governor of Kirkuk.
"After the exchange of ideas and talks, both sides agreed to choose Mr. Faraydun Abdulqadir for the post of Kirkuk governor," read a KDP politburo statement on Tuesday.
The simmering dispute culminated in a PUK boycott of the parliament session on Tuesday that saw the KDP’s Nechirvan Barzani elected President of the Kurdistan Region.
The move “ignored the expectations of the people of Kurdistan and the will of the nation,” claimed the KDP politburo statement.
On the same day in a statement, the PUK accused the KDP of creating “serious impediments to implementing reached agreements” and ignoring the March 4th agreement concerning Kirkuk, citing this as the reason for their boycott.
Amid the successive retorts, Abdulqadir says he has repeatedly refused the role of Kirkuk governor – doing so even in Kosrat Rasul Ali’s presence.
"Multiple times, I have been asked to accept the post of Kirkuk governor," he said in a statement released yesterday.
"But I have made it clear I do not want this job."
Ali rejected the claim that he had ever asked Abdulqadir to assume the role of governor. Praising Abdulqadir as “dedicated ” and complimenting the leadership qualities he had shown while he had been part of the PUK, he claimed that he had not talked to Masoud Barzani about Abdulqadir’s potential governorship, “despite what they [the KDP] claim" in comments he made to Rudaw on Saturday.
Agreement between the two dominant Kurdistani parties on the appointment of a PUK governor had been reached as anxiety around claimed Arabization of disputed areas around Kirkuk rises, with an agreed upon Kurdish governor seen as a potential solution to the issue.
Lahur Talabany, the director of the Zanyari (Intelligence) Agency in the Kurdistan Region and Counterterrorism Group, wields great power within PUK-dominated Sulaimani and Kirkuk provinces.
He argued that Kurdistani parties are creating discourse around the Kirkuk governorship issue just for their own benefit.
“Those people who every day shed crocodile tears for Kirkuk and the disputed areas and make fiery statements from their palaces and those ready to mix their hands with the Hashd al-Shaabi and elect a governor for Mosul from Hashd al-Shaabi and take the post of deputy governor for themselves are not ready to hold hands with Kirkuk to even a little bit alleviate... their grievances of the people of Kirkuk," Talabany told reporters in Kirkuk on Sunday, as he was referring to the KDP that supported the newly-elected Mosul Governor Mansour Marid.
When Iraqi federal forces were overrun in Kirkuk and other disputed by ISIS in mid-2014, the Peshmerga took control of the city and some Kurdistani areas. Following Kirkuk participating in the independence referendum, the city was swiftly taken from Peshmerga by federal forces supported by Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitias and militias during the events of October 2017 with both the KDP and PUK blaming each other.
The KDP and PUK still hold the majority of seats on the Kirkuk Provincial Council via the Brotherhood Alliance. The council, according to the Iraqi constitution, is the body responsible for electing a governor. However, Kirkuk has held just one provincial election since the "new Iraq" was established in 2005. It is not clear when Iraq will next hold provincial elections and if Kirkuk would be included.