Kirkuk drowned in blood: where are peshmarga forces

By Farhad Muhammad, Govari Gulan, Translated by Dr Kamal Mirawdeli

The fire of terrorism has been extended to Kurdistan too. No day passes without tens of citizens becoming the victims of terrorism in Kirkuk, but still the political leadership and government of Kurdistan region try to solve the issue of Kirkuk within the framework of law and Iraqi constitution and thus decide its return to Kurdistan region.

The issue of stopping terrorist acts and protecting the lives of Kirkuk citizens including Kurds, Turkomans, original Arabs and Assyrians, whom the Iraqi government and coalition forces have failed to protect, must become the paramount principal priority of political authority and government of Kurdistan region. We cannot afford to allow terrorists indulge in crime and terror in Kirkuk while Kurdistan’s peshmarga forces remain spectators without a clear role and position.

In the beginning of the liberation of Iraq, the coalition forces used various excuses to take over the protection of Kirkuk and they did not allow Kurdistan peshmarga army to control the security situation in Kirkuk the way they did in other Kurdistan cities. This could have been done if this city were returned early to Kurdistan region.

Now the security situation in Kirkuk is entering a very dangerous stage. Iraqi army and coalition forces are helpless to control the situation the way they have been helpless in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to control the sectarian and ethnic war which has reached the level of ethnic and sectarian cleansing. We are facing the same situation in Kirkuk. Ethnic cleansing of Kurds at the hands of racist terrorists is starting again. The waves of terrorist attacks against Kirkuk especially those localities and areas where the Kurds are the majority, aims to frighten the Kurds to leave the city. If the coalition forces remain adamant to prevent peshmarga forces from establishing security in Kirkuk, then this attitude will be a direct support to terrorists, settled Arabs and former Ba’athists.

I believe that the situation on the ground in Kirkuk cannot allow for any more delay in taking decisive urgent political and military steps together with relevant bodies especially the Iraqi federal government and the leadership of coalition forces to deal with the situation and uproot terrorist threats.