According to a senior security source in Kirkuk, the Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammad Shia’ al-Sudani, is scheduled to visit the governorate tomorrow, Saturday, to discuss the ramifications of the recent events in Kirkuk, while security forces were deployed in the city’s streets, reinforced with military vehicles.
According to a source, Al-Sudani will visit Kirkuk tomorrow to discuss recent events and their security and political ramifications in the governorate, as well as to prepare plans to maintain peaceful and societal coexistence and prepare the atmosphere for the holding of local elections.
He went on to state that Al-Sudani would meet with governorate authorities and political forces from all components to discuss the current crisis and how to avoid it from happening again in the city, as well as to evaluate measures to safeguard the city and preserve community stability.
In addition, the source revealed that there is a large deployment of security formations, accompanied by military vehicles, in Kirkuk’s neighborhoods and areas in preparation for any emergency.
The Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Abdul Amir Yarallah, came in Kirkuk Governorate yesterday, Thursday, accompanied by the Commander of the Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Qassem Al-Muhammadi, to oversee the security situation.
Several dozens of demonstrators supporting “Arab and Turkmen” political parties in Kirkuk governorate blocked the main road connecting the governorate to the city of Erbil a few days ago, in protest of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s intention to reopen its headquarters in Kirkuk in accordance with the political agreement reached with the State Administration Coalition, which includes forces. As well as the political parties that comprise the current federal government, which is led by Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.
On Saturday evening, dozens of Kurdish demonstrators descended on the areas inhabited by the majority of the component’s people, demanding the reopening of the road and the end of the sit-ins in front of the headquarters, but they were met with gunfire, resulting in casualties and damage.
Due to the tensions that preceded the protests in Kurdish regions, Iraqi security forces enforced a curfew in Kirkuk governorate.
It is worth noting that the Kurdistan Democratic Party, led by Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, left its headquarters and party institutions in Kirkuk Governorate following the federal government’s military operation on the disputed areas between Erbil and Baghdad following the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in September of 2017, which resulted in the withdrawal of Peshmerga and Asayish forces from those areas.
