ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkmen assumed the position of Kirkuk governor assistant on Tuesday, weeks after the controversial formation of the local government.
Jafaar Abbas Karim, a Shiite Turkmen not affiliated with any Turkmen parties on the provincial council, on Tuesday started his position as an assistant to Kirkuk Governor Rebwar Taha for administrative and financial affairs, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
Taha decided to appoint him as his assistant last week.
“He was chosen for his competence, integrity, and professionalism - without regard to his ethnicity,” the governor’s statement said.
The Kirkuk provincial council held its second meeting on August 10 in a controversial manner. Five Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) members in the council, three Arab councillors, and a Christian attended the meeting at a hotel in Baghdad.
No council members from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Turkmen Front, or the Arab Alliance were present during the meeting, questioning the legality of the session.
Turkmens and some Arabs held a demonstration days after the formation of the local government. They legally challenged the move; however, the federal court rejected their requests on August 20, saying that issuing an urgent order based on an independent request has not been mentioned in the provisions of the law, and therefore the requests do not have “the characteristic of urgency nor a necessity for issuing the order.”
Local elections were held in Iraq, excluding the Kurdistan Region, in December. Kurds won seven seats - five to the PUK and two to the KDP - in Kirkuk while Arabs garnered six and Turkmens two. The minority Christian quota seat was taken by a candidate close to pro-Iran Shiite militia groups and the PUK.
