BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced Feb. 12 that the security situation in Kirkuk has been stabilized. However, Kurdish parties now say Kurdish peshmerga forces have returned to Kirkuk province — an area disputed by Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen.

The federal authorities led by former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi restored control over Kirkuk and the disputed areas from peshmerga forces after the independence referendum of Kurdistan in October 2017. As a result, Kirkuk's former Kurdish Gov. Najmiddin Karim escaped, and Arab Gov. Rakan al-Jabouri was temporarily appointed.

Now that ties have been restored between Baghdad and Erbil and Kurds have become part of Abdul Mahdi’s government, given his strong ties with them, the Kurdish and Arab circles are talking about taking action to restore joint control between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over oil-rich Kirkuk.

Such action first began Jan. 23 when Abdul Mahdi decided to withdraw anti-terrorism forces from Kirkuk and then peshmerga forces returned to the northern and western borders of the province. All of this happened after the leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), Massoud Barzani, visited Baghdad and met with Abdul Mahdi on Nov. 22, 2018. That visit was described as historic because it ended the boycott that followed the referendum and paved the way for many arrangements for the future of Kirkuk.