PUK's anti-terror heads to Kirkuk for Newroz festival

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An armed convoy of the PUK's Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) was deployed to Kirkuk on Monday, accompanying the head of the force, to take part in a Newroz event in the disputed city on Tuesday.

The force will leave the city after taking part in the Kurdish new year celebrations.

Lahur Talabany, head of the anti-terror force whose loyalty is to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), while in the city called on the people of Kirkuk to come out in large numbers to mark the Kurdish new year.

"PUK is equal to Kirkuk and Kirkuk is equal to the PUK," Talabany said at a press conference that was limited to media outlets tied to the PUK.

"I call on the people to head towards the qala [the citadel], so that we light the Newroz fire at the citadel and make the people of Kirkuk happy," he added.

Talabany is among a number of PUK members who stand accused of handing over Kirkuk to Iraqi forces and the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi last October. He has denied the accusations and on Sunday requested KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani open an investigation into what went wrong on October 16.

The PUK stated in October that they have opened an internal investigation into the October 16 events, but since then have not commented on the matter.

The armed convoy was deployed to protect the people of the city as part of a "special mission," PUK Media, one of the official outlets of the party, reported earlier in the day.

Rebwar Taha, a Kurdish MP from the PUK representing Kirkuk in the Iraqi parliament, told Rudaw that it was not a deployment, but that the force is there as part of a security detail to protect the CTG's head.

Kurdish parties in Kirkuk announced their intention to raise the Kurdistan flag in the city for Newroz. The flag has been banned in the city since it came under Iraqi control.

Talabany also called on the people of Kirkuk to take part in Iraq’s parliamentary election, scheduled for May 12, "to impose the Kurdistani identity of Kirkuk."

He called for Kurdish unity, adding that the fall of Afrin in Syrian Kurdistan is part of a continued plot against the Kurdish people that began after the Kurdistan Region held the September 25 referendum on independence.

The PUK faces a difficult task to mobilize the Kurdish population for the election in Kirkuk, historically a stronghold of the party.

Mala Bakhtiar, a senior PUK leader who was re-elected to the politburo last week, told Rudaw in January that the party may lose 10 to 15 percent of their overall votes in the Kurdistani or disputed areas such as Kirkuk.

Kirkuk took part in the referendum that saw nearly 93 percent of the people vote for an independent state.