ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Turkmen bloc in the Iraqi parliament has endorsed the nomination of a governor and council chief for Kirkuk at a meeting of the provincial council, amid anger and dissatisfaction from other Turkmen blocs, as Iraq’s judiciary is expected to hear complaints questioning the meeting’s legitimacy. “We support the Iraqi government and we, in the Turkmen Framework Bloc, representatives of the Turkmen people, confirm the legality of forming the local government in Kirkuk,” read a statement from the bloc on Monday. Nine out of the 16 members of the Kirkuk provincial council held a meeting at al-Rasheed hotel in Baghdad on Saturday evening, hours before a deadline to form the province’s local administration. During the meeting, Rebwar Taha of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) was nominated for the governorship of Kirkuk, and Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hafidh, from the Arab Qiyada Alliance, as the council’s chief. The meeting drew the ire of some Arab parties and the Turkmen bloc, which did not participate in the meeting. The Turkmen Framework Bloc does not have a member in the Kirkuk provincial council; however, it has four members in the Iraqi parliament. Iraqi MP Ghareeb Askar al-Turkmani, a member of the Turkmen bloc, was present and said he supported Taha’s nomination after the meeting. Despite the Turkmen Framework Bloc not having a seat on Kirkuk’s provincial council, Turkmani attended the council’s meeting in Baghdad. The bloc said it is “unacceptable and intolerable” to criticize Turkmani for his presence at the meeting, calling parties to unify the Turkmens’ stance in Kirkuk. The Turkmen Front, which has two seats in the council, did not participate in the meeting on Saturday. They filed a complaint on Monday with Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court against the formation of Kirkuk’s local government in the session, according to party spokesperson Mohammed Samaan. Hassan Turan, head of the Turkmen Front, said the meeting violates the provisions in the Iraqi provincial elections law, which state that the council chief - based on seniority - must be present at a meeting to elect the governor and the head of the council, and that positions must be distributed fairly between all of Kirkuk’s components. Kirkuk’s former acting Governor Rakan al-Jabouri, the eldest member of the council, served as its chief during a previous meeting in July. However, he did not attend the session on Saturday, saying the meeting did not adhere to legal requirements because no request was filed with the head of the council to hold the meeting. Because of Kirkuk’s status as a multi-ethnic, disputed province with a history of demographic change, the provincial council election law dictates that “power shall be distributed in a fair representation which guarantees the participation of the province’s components regardless of the results of the elections.” The Turkmen party had suggested rotating the governorship between the three components. Additionally, the meeting was conducted outside of Kirkuk secretly from other members of the council, and violated the agreements reached following the first session of the provincial council which obliged the parties to negotiate before holding a second session, according to Truan, leader of the Turkemen Front. For its part, the PUK has said that it values the importance of all the components in the local government of Kirkuk, it will defend the rights of the Turkmens, and all the province’s components. “We reassure the Turkmen brothers like other communities; they have their rightful place in the administration of Kirkuk, and the PUK is the true defender of their rights and will not allow anyone to deprive them of their rights,” PUK’s politburo said in a statement on Monday. The absence of a clear majority after Iraq’s provincial elections in December and disputes between the parties has hindered the process of appointing the governor and forming the local administration. Kirkuk is the only Iraqi province yet to finalize its government. Ultimately, nominations for governors must be approved by the Iraqi president, typically a formality.
