The police chief has sent a directive to its offices, giving them 72 hours to remove 129 Kurdish officers. A total of 146 police are named in the letter, mostly above the rank of lieutenant. Fourteen of them have already been replaced.
The orders follow from a decision made in July of this year.
“A decision has been made to remove from their positions those who went to Erbil and Sulaimani after the events of October 16. They will be removed from the Kirkuk police department,” Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir, former head of Kirkuk suburban police, told Rudaw.
“According to the letter, the posts occupied by Kurds will be given to Arabs and Turkmen,” he added.
Federal forces took control of the most of the disputed territories in October last year just weeks after the Kurdistan Region and disputed areas voted for independence in a referendum.
Thousands of Kurds from the disputed areas fled to the Kurdistan Region. Abuses against Kurds by the Iraqi forces have been widely reported. In Kirkuk, the acting administration that replaced the ousted Kurdish governor has revived the Baathist-era Arabization policy.
An official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said disunity among Kurds has left them unable to fend off such actions.
“After the events of October 16, tens of decisions were made against Kurds of this city such as the Arabization of land, expelling Kurdish director-generals and employees. This is because of disunity among the Kurds,” said Jamal Shikur, an executive member of the PUK in Kirkuk.
Elements within the PUK chose to withdraw from Kirkuk, drawing accusations of treason from other parties.
MPs in Baghdad hope that the new Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi will address the problems.
The Council of Ministers, in a meeting on Wednesday, decided to form a committee to investigate decisions taken in Kirkuk since October 16, according to MP Mariwan Qadir.
“A committee has been formed for each of these decisions,” he said, including the sacking of Kurdish police officers.
Most of the officers named in the directive have certificates from military colleges of Qalacholan and Zakho that are officially recognized by the Iraqi government.
By the end of October 2017, Erbil and Baghdad had reached an agreement for more than 200 officers and policemen who were displaced to go back to work, but a couple of weeks later 47 Kurdish police officers were removed from their posts.
Brig. Gen. Khatab Omer, Kurdish director-general of Kirkuk police, was sacked in March.
.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
