According to officials, a curfew has been implemented in Kirkuk, a city in northern Iraq, following violent clashes between competing demonstrations of Kurdish and Arab locals.
According to a statement from his office on Saturday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the curfew in Kirkuk and “extensive security operations in the areas affected by the riots”. He urged all sides to “play their part in preventing strife and preserving security, stability, and order in Kirkuk Governorate”.According to a local authority, eight individuals were hurt in addition to at least one civilian death.
Ziad Khalaf, the director of the local health authority, told the AFP news agency that the circumstances surrounding the death were not immediately precise but added that those hurt had been struck by gunfire, stones, or glass. He claimed that one of the injured was a security force member.
Tension Brewing in Kirkuk:
In Kirkuk, which has historically been a point of contention between the federal government in Baghdad and authorities in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in the north, tensions have been building for nearly a week.
The conflict is focused on the occupation of a Kirkuk structure that had housed the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) headquarters but has since been used by the Iraqi army as a base.
Arab and Turkmen opponents put up a camp outside the building to protest the handover last week, and the central government intends to return the facility to the KDP as a gesture of goodwill.
According to officials, a group of Kurdish demonstrators entered the camp on Saturday, which ignited the violence.
The police deployed to the area fired warning shots to force the Kurdish demonstrators to disperse, reported Al Jazeera as reported by AFP.
The Violent Protest:
It has been reported by the agency that the vehicles on a main avenue were set on fire. Veteran Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani claimed that “rioters” had blocked the road from Kirkuk to Erbil by staging a sit-in. According to him, this was “creating a tense and dangerous situation for residents”. When asked why security personnel had not stopped people who were obstructing the route from acting in an illegal manner and causing havoc, Barzani said it was “surprising,” adding that on Saturday, “violence was used against Kurdish youth and demonstrators,” as reported by Al Jazeera.
In the meantime, the autonomous region’s prime minister, Masrour Barzani, urged al-Sudani in Baghdad to “intervene immediately to bring this intolerable situation under control.”
Kirkuk:
The epicenter of some of the worst post-ISIL (ISIS) violence in Iraq has been Kirkuk, a flashpoint oil-rich province in northern Iraq along the fault lines between the Kurdish autonomous region and areas controlled by the country’s Shia-dominated central government.
After driving ISIL out of Kirkuk city in 2014, Kurdish troops were in charge of the city, but they were driven out by the Iraqi army in 2017, handing back control of the city to Baghdad.
When al-Sudani assumed power last year, he attempted to normalize relations with the KDP and consented to let the organization reopen its Kirkuk headquarters.
However, inhabitants of Arab descent and minority groups, such the Turkmen, who claimed to have suffered under Kurdish control, have protested the KDP’s return.
