Head of the Turkmen bloc in the House of Representatives, MP Arshad Al-Salhi, called for excluding Kirkuk from the State Administration Powers deal.

He said that the ruling political blocs in Baghdad must exclude Kirkuk from the political courtesy that took place at the meeting of the State Administration Coalition within the platform of the political agreement, which most of the blocs included in the State Administration Coalition voted on, despite our strong objection to it.

He referred to Article Seven of the Universal Charter on Human Rights: “All people are equal before the law, and they have an equal right to enjoy the protection of the law without discrimination. They also have an equal right to enjoy protection from any discrimination that violates this declaration and from any incitement to such discrimination.”

He said, “Given the peaceful demonstrations and the blocking of the vital main road between Erbil-Kirkuk, which passes in front of the command of the forward headquarters of joint operations in Kirkuk, and the demonstrators’ demand not to allow the operations command to be evacuated, considering it property of the state, no political party has the right to acquire state property through political agreements, and as representatives of the Kirkuk governorate, our great fear of the escalation of the political dispute between Baghdad and Erbil, will escalate, and the bill will be paid by the people of Kirkuk. Therefore, I call on the international community to intervene immediately in resolving the intractable issue of Kirkuk instead of leaving it to deals and courtesies and fearing that societal peace will soon deteriorate in Kirkuk.”

Al-Salhi stressed that the current State Administration did not find radical solutions to the Kirkuk issue, and did not include representatives and representatives of Kirkuk Governorate in the meetings related to the Kirkuk file. On the contrary, they left it to bilateral side political agreements. Therefore, we call on the international community to intervene in resolving the Kirkuk issue, especially in this critical period in which we are on the cusp of provincial council elections, and urging citizens to participate in democratic elections is more likely after the reluctance of many to vote due to the collapse of trust between the citizen and the ruling authority. /End

Source: National Iraqi News Agency