Alwaght- Iraqi government troops entered the city of Kirkuk on Monday after Kurdish militias withdrew, the Iraqi military command said.
A convoy of Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) forces and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) took control of the governorate building in the central part of Kirkuk, located 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad, facing no resistance from Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the city.
Security sources and residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government forces arrived at the site, and took position in the vicinity alongside the local city police.
CTS members drove to Kirkuk downtown after they had captured airport earlier in the day from Kurdish forces.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered the hoisting of Iraqi national flag in the country’s oil-rich northern province of Kirkuk as well as other areas under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
A member of the Iraqi forces takes down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk [Reuters]
Iraqi Kurdish militias, Peshmerga, warned Baghdad would pay a “heavy price” for launching a major offensive over several fronts aimed at retaking the Kurdish-held city of Kirkuk amid spiraling tensions between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities in the wake of last month’s Kurdish independence referendum.
The Kurdish militias, in a statement released on Monday, also accused some officials within the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of “treason” for assisting Baghdad with the advance and handing over sensitive sites to Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – also known by their Arabic name as Hashd al-Shaabi.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a statement on Monday, saying that he is fulfilling his constitutional duty that entails serving the people and “the protection of the unity of the country that has faced the threat of division due to the insistence of [the Kurdish leadership] on holding the referendum, in a unilateral manner, while the Iraqi government faced the threat of ISIS".
Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) held an illegitimate independence referendum on Sept. 25. The breakaway vote has faced strong opposition from most regional and international actors -- including the Iran, Turkey, and the US, who warned that the poll would distract from Iraq’s fight against terrorism and further destabilize the region.
Iraqi Prime Minister's statement also rebuked Kurdistan referendum as a bid to "establish a race based state.” Premier said KRG nonetheless went ahead with the vote by “violating the constitution,” despite calls by the international community that demanded Erbil to reconsider it.
He said he reassures the people of Kurdistan “in particular Kirkuk” that they will protect their lives, their interests, and that “we did not do anything beyond our constitutional duties to prevail the federal authority, the protection of the national wealth in that city that we want it to stay as a peaceful coexisting city.”
It said that the Iraqi forces will protect the rule of law, while asking the Kurdish Peshmerga, as part of the Iraqi defense system to “carry on its duties under the federal leadership.”
The statement concluded by calling on the people to go back to their “normal lives” and for the state employees, including the police and security forces to commit to their duties in the city.
