16th October: The PUK's Role in Preserving Kirkuk from Bloodshed

PUKMEDIA

Kirkuk Province

Seven years ago, specifically on 16th October 2017, the Peshmerga forces retreated from the Kurdish regions due to the advance of federal forces into Kirkuk and the Nineveh Plains, following the referendum held on 25th September 2017.

The 16th of October 2017 was far from an ordinary day; it nearly plunged Kirkuk, a city of diverse communities, into street warfare, chaos, and destruction, were it not for the intervention of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which helped to halt the bloodshed.

Following the referendum pushed by the then-president of the Kurdistan Region (Massoud Barzani, who is currently the President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party), federal security forces, alongside the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), entered the city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas, while the Peshmerga forces retreated beyond the Blue Line, which refers to the regions that ISIS had not entered.

The withdrawal of the PUK's Peshmerga forces from Kirkuk aimed to prevent further casualties in the city due to clashes with the larger and stronger federal forces. This decision was part of a measured approach by the leaders of the PUK to avoid bloodshed, even though the 70 Forces had already suffered around 40 martyrs in Kirkuk.

The referendum in the Kurdistan Region was the primary reason for the entry of federal forces into Kirkuk, yet those who organised the referendum evaded their responsibility when they should have been accountable for the consequences of their actions.

At that time, regional and international parties urged for a de-escalation of tensions in Kirkuk Province, calling on both the federal and Kurdistan Regional governments to work together to prevent escalation and maintain law and order.

On the 19th of the same month in 2017, the UN Security Council urged an end to the escalation in Kirkuk, reaffirming its support for Iraq. The Council expressed concern over the tensions in Kirkuk and emphasised that all parties should engage in constructive dialogue to help ease the situation. The Kurdistan Region also called for elections and a return to the political process and dialogue.

Following the entry of federal forces and those affiliated with the PMF into Kirkuk, all Kurdish parties withdrew from the province, except for the PUK, which chose to stay with the people of Kirkuk and did not abandon them.

Kirkuk was not the only city into which federal forces entered following the referendum; the Peshmerga forces also withdrew from Sinjar and large parts of the Nineveh Plains without firing a single shot.



PUKMEDIA