ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Kirkuk provincial council will hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss the amendment of its bylaw and urge Turkmens to fill positions spared for them, more than a week after the controversial nomination of a Kurdish governor to the province. “Invitations have been sent to all members of the council [to attend the meeting]. So far, no party has officially informed us that they are not taking part in the meeting,” Parwin Fatih, a Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) member of the council, told Rudaw. She added that three issues will be discussed, including “voting on the formation of a committee to amend the council’s bylaw” and “calling on Turkmens to fill their posts as soon as possible.” The deadlock over forming Kirkuk’s local administration was brought to an end in a controversial manner on August 10, after the PUK’s five members and four provincial councilors allied with the party held a previously-unannounced meeting in Baghdad and appointed Rebwar Taha as the governor and Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hafidh, a Sunni Arab politician, as the provincial council chief. Both have officially assumed the positions. No council members from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Turkmen Front, or the Arab Alliance were present during the meeting, and the parties have deemed the session to be in violation of the law. Turkmens and some Arabs held a demonstration days later and they have legally challenged the move by the PUK and its allies. The formation of Kirkuk’s provincial government took more than seven months and was hindered by the absence of a clear majority between the parties after the elections and disputes. Sawsan Shakir, a Turkmen member of the council, told Rudaw that “we have made our final decision not to attend the meeting at all.” Hassan Majeed, a KDP councilor, told Rudaw that they have not received any invitation to take part in the meeting, noting that they have yet to decide whether to attend or not.
