At a Glance

• Kurdish Lawmaker in Iraqi parliament called on Baghdad to form a national balance committee to fairly divide Kirkuk posts.
• The lawmaker warned against the systemic marginalization of Kurds across federal ministries and security agencies.
• The PUK parliamentary bloc declared that current administrative exclusions in Kirkuk will not be tolerated.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) lawmaker Mazin Gharib has called on Baghdad to establish a national balance committee to fairly divide local government and security posts in Kirkuk, warning that the marginalization of Kurds across federal ministries and security agencies will no longer be tolerated.

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Key Statement and Focus Area

• PUK lawmaker Mazin Gharib stated that, "From here, I call upon the honorable Prime Minister of Iraq and all ministers to restore national balance to Kirkuk."
• He stressed that, "As the PUK parliamentary bloc, we will not accept this matter in Kirkuk under any circumstances."

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Speaking during a press conference in Baghdad, Mazin Gharib—a member of the Security and Defense Committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives—emphasized that what is happening across all ministries, including education and the security apparatuses, "is unacceptable."

"Whatever they did in the past may be behind us, but at present, this is unacceptable," he reaffirmed, adding that the issue must not be sidelined.

The lawmaker further highlighted that, "In all state institutions, particularly within the security agencies, there is significant marginalization of the Kurdish nation."

Gharib stressed that certain figures seek to secure positions in Baghdad solely to use them to marginalize other nationalities.

FYI

Kirkuk remains one of the most ethnically contested territories in Iraq under Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. 

Control over the oil-rich province is a major point of friction between the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Federal Government in Baghdad, with Erbil firmly maintaining that Article 140 is the definitive, legally binding roadmap for resolving the status of Kirkuk and other disputed territories. 

Following the 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum, the Iraqi federal government executed a military takeover of Kirkuk, displacing Kurdish administrative and security forces from the province. 

Since then, Kurdish political entities have continuously claimed that Kurds are being systematically squeezed out of local government roles.

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