SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) raised Kurdistan flags over its headquarters in Kirkuk on Jan. 9, sparking tensions between Kurds and other ethnicities in the multiethnic city and between Iraqi Kurdistan and Baghdad as well.
Kirkuk, 145 miles north of Baghdad, has a mixed population of Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs along with significant oil reserves. According to article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the final status of Kirkuk and other areas should be resolved in a referendum to determine whether they will remain part of federal Iraq or the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region.
Kurdish peshmerga took control of Kirkuk and other disputed areas in 2014, after the Islamic State swept through much of northern and western Iraq. In October 2017, Iraqi forces expelled the Kurdish forces from the city following an independence referendum in the three provinces of Iraqi Kurdistan and in disputed neighboring areas, including Kirkuk. The Baghdad government, and others, including Iran, Turkey and the United States, had opposed conducting the vote.
On top of Kirkuk’s already unstable security situations due to Islamic State attacks, Iraqi Special Forces deployed Jan. 10 in Kirkuk, increasing the chances of an escalation. According to Agence France-Presse, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Unit gave the PUK until noon Jan. 11 to lower the flag.
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