The Iraqi government has planned to employ 37,000 cops aged between 18 to 22, to be paid 500,000 Iraqi dinars monthly and serve on the basis of a three-year contract on the interior ministry’s payroll. Of this number, more than 2,500 positions are allocated to Kirkuk province.
Kurds and Turkmen are dissatisfied that sixty percent of those who have been granted employment are Arabs from other Iraqi provinces, taking up their city’s share.
On Sunday, a number of Kurdish applicants whose applications were rejected staged a protest, saying they were unhappy that they had been replaced by Arabs from other parts of the country.
"We applied online, provided our names, and submitted our primary school certificates, but our names have not been accepted. We are uncertain about the issue. They have informed us that people from other provinces like Diyala and Mosul have been hired to fill positions in Kirkuk, and we are in the dark about the situation," said Adnan Ismail, a resident of Kirkuk.
Kirkuk is a multiethnic city home to Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, as well as an Assyrian minority.
The Arabs who have been hired and received residency cards, as well as food rations, are set to begin working as early as next week, a development seen as a new phase of Arabization in the province, disputed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
“The minister of the interior should issue instructions to Kirkuk, ensuring an equal distribution of shares among the Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and Christian communities. Straying from this approach will foster division. Having only two or three Kurds and two or three Turkmens out of 50 women is unjust,” said Arshad Salihi, a prominent Turkmen leader and a current lawmaker in the Iraqi parliament.
Like the Turkmen component, Kurdish parties are troubled by the unequal distribution of employment opportunities and have lodged complaints. They are also considering the possibility of organizing demonstrations in response to this issue.
"In this process, some of the Arabs who are going to be contracted are from other Iraqi provinces and will be employed in Kirkuk's share. This is surprising, and we will oppose it in every way," stated Dilan Ghafoor, a Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament from Kirkuk.
"We will start strong parliamentary and civil pressure to correct this unfavorable situation, and we will not stop to the extent of taking to the streets and demonstrations if our demands are not heard," she added.
For the fourth time in three years, Baghdad has offered employment opportunities to Kirkuk given mostly to Arabs, while little shares went to Kurds and Turkmen.
Kirkuk was under administration before 2014 when Kurds took full control after Iraqi forces withdrew in the face of a brazen offensive by the Islamic State (ISIS) group threatening the city. Kurds held Kirkuk until October 16, 2017, when Iraqi forces retook control and expelled Kurdish security forces following the KRG’s independence referendum.
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