Kurds Fear ‘Arabization’ of Iraq’s Kirkuk

A member of Iraqi security forces takes down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, Iraq. (Reuters)
A member of Iraqi security forces takes down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, Iraq. (Reuters)
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Kurds Fear ‘Arabization’ of Iraq’s Kirkuk

A member of Iraqi security forces takes down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, Iraq. (Reuters)
A member of Iraqi security forces takes down the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk, Iraq. (Reuters)

It appears that the Iraqi federal authority's recapturing of Kirkik from Kurdish control has not ended the disputes that have plagued the oil-rich region since the collapse of the former regime.

Successive governments have failed to resolve differences between the region’s population of Turkmen, Kurds and Arabs. Signs of a new crisis erupting began to emerge with Kurds voicing their concern with Arabs and Turkmen seizing public posts at their expense and with the support of the Iraqi government.

Members of the Kurdish council in the region voiced their fears that Iraqi authorities would continue the process of “Arabizing” the province amid the absence of a Kurdish governor and the unlikelihood that the post will be filled any time soon.

The Kurdish governor, Najmeddine Karim, had fled Kirkuk in wake of the Iraqi forces’ October operation to regain control of the region.

Council member Ahmed al-Askari told Kurdish media that the absence of this governor is being exploited once again by some sides to once again launch the “Arabization” policy that was adopted by the previous regime of Saddam Hussein.

Asharq Al-Awsat could not confirm his claims of “Arabization.”

“Baghdad has started the process and the government issued a decree allowing Arab Shi’ites to transfer their jobs to Kirkuk,” Askari said.

They have also been allowed to change their personal status to Kirkuk and allowed Kurds to transfer their status outside the province, he continued.

Turkmen officials in the province agreed with the Kurdish view on the latest developments in Kirkuk despite their opposition to the actions of Karim.

Turkman official Hassan Touran told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We oppose any demographic change in the province, whether in ‘Arabization’ as practiced by the old regime or ‘Kurdization’ as adopted by the former governor.”

He instead voiced his support for coexistence in the region, demanding that normalization measures be put in place so that all locals can live together in peace.



Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
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Pro-Türkiye Syria Groups Reduce Presence in Kurdish Area, Says Official

US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)
US-backed Kurdish fighters stand on their vehicles, as they withdraw from two neighborhoods in Syria's northern city of Aleppo as part of a deal with the Syrian central government, in Aleppo, Syria, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP)

Pro-Türkiye Syrian groups have scaled down their military presence in an historically Kurdish-majority area of the country's north which they have controlled since 2018, a Syrian defense ministry official said on Tuesday.

The move follows an agreement signed last month between Syria's new authorities and Kurdish officials that provides for the return of displaced Kurds, including tens of thousands who fled the Afrin region in 2018.

The pro-Ankara groups have "reduced their military presence and checkpoints" in Afrin, in Aleppo province, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Their presence has been "maintained in the region for now", said the official, adding that authorities wanted to station them in army posts but these had been a regular target of Israeli strikes.

After opposition forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, the new authorities announced the disbanding of all armed groups and their integration into the new army, a move that should include pro-Türkiye groups who control swathes of northern Syria.

Turkish forces and their Syrian proxies carried out an offensive from January to March 2018 targeting Kurdish fighters in the Afrin area.

The United Nations has estimated that half of the enclave's 320,000 inhabitants fled during the offensive.

Last month, the Kurdish administration that controls swathes of northern and northeastern Syria struck a deal to integrate its civil and military institutions into those of the central government.

Syria's new leadership has been seeking to unify the country since the December overthrow of Assad after more than 13 years of civil war.

This month, Kurdish fighters withdrew from two neighborhoods of Aleppo as part of the deal.

Syrian Kurdish official Bedran Kurd said on X that the Aleppo city agreement "represents the first phase of a broader plan aimed at ensuring the safe return of the people of Afrin".

The autonomous Kurdish-led administration's military force, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, played a key role in the recapture of the last territory held by the ISIS group in Syria in 2019.