Iraq Turkmen chief calls for Turkmen governor of Kirkuk

By Haydar Hadi

BAGHDAD (AA) - An Iraqi Turkmen leader on Tuesday declared that the governor of Kirkuk should hail from the oil-rich province’s Turkmen community.

Ershad Salihi, head of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), made the assertion following Baghdad’s appointment last week of a new provincial governor after the previous governor was sacked last month.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency from Baghdad, Salihi described the city of Kirkuk (Kirkuk province’s regional capital) as “a Turkmen city”.

“Why shouldn’t Kirkuk’s governor be a Turkmen?” he asked. “Provincial governors in central and southern Iraq are Arabs, while the governors of the three northern provinces are Kurds.”

Salihi went on to suggest that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was planning to appoint a “military governor” -- with a Turkmen, an Arab and a Kurdish assistant -- to Kirkuk.

“We want to see an equitable administrative model in Kirkuk that is equally shared between the region’s ethnic components,” he said.

“A Turkmen governor can provide this,” he added. “If Baghdad dispatches military forces to Kirkuk, it must be prepared to listen to everybody.”

Last week, Baghdad appointed Rakan Saeed as Kirkuk’s new provincial governor. The post had remained vacant since mid-September, when Iraq’s parliament voted to dismiss the previous governor, Najmiddin Karim.

Karim’s dismissal was prompted by an earlier decision by Kirkuk’s provincial council to include the province in last month’s illegitimate referendum on Kurdish regional independence.

Notably, Saeed’s appointment last week came only one day after Iraqi forces moved into Kirkuk city, where they took control of the main government headquarters.

Last Friday, Iraq’s Turkmen High Commission named its own candidate -- Iraqi-Turkmen MP Niyazi Oglu -- for the coveted governorship.

Commission member Fawzi Akram told Anadolu Agency at the time that Iraq had not had a Turkmen provincial governor since before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of the country.

“Kirkuk must be fairly administered by all segments of society,” he said. “Decision-making must be shared, not monopolized by a single party.”