Iraq issues arrest warrant after Kurdish vice president says Kirkuk is 'occupied'

A court in Baghdad on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region after he said Iraqi armed forces had 'occupied' Kirkuk.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

20 October, 2017

Iraqi forces and allied militias took control of the northern Kirkuk province this week. [Getty]

A court in Baghdad on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the vice president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region after he said Iraqi armed forces had "occupied" the province of Kirkuk.

Iraqi forces and allied militias this week took control of the northern Kirkuk province and its lucrative oil fields after a fast-paced operation which saw Kurdish forces retreat with little resistance.

The Kurds took over the city of Kirkuk in 2014 when Iraq's army melted away ahead of the Islamic State's blitz across northern and western Iraq.

The court in Baghdad accused Korat Rasul of "insulting" Iraq's armed forces, which is forbidden by Iraqi law.

The arrest warrant is unlikely to be carried out, however, as Baghdad's central government has no enforceable authority in the Kurdish administered north.

Earlier in October, an Iraqi court ordered the arrest of senior Kurdish officials responsible for organising the Kurdish independence referendum.

Arrest warrants were issued against the chairman of the vote's organising commission, Hendren Saleh, and two other members for organising the referendum in "contravention of a ruling by the Iraqi supreme court," which had found the vote unconstitutional.

Kurdish residents in Kirkuk are still reeling from the takeover of the city by Iraqi forces, with many feeling betrayed by the two leading Iraqi Kurdish political parties.

More than 100,000 Kurds have fled Kirkuk since Monday's takeover of the province.

United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that the UN has received allegations that armed groups burned some 150 houses in Tuz Khurmatu, south of Kirkuk on Oct. 16-17, and that houses belonging to Kurdish families and officials of Kurdish political parties were destroyed by explosives.

He said the UN had noted Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's acknowledgment of incidents by what he called "extremist elements from both sides" and his decision to send the army to restore order in Tuz Khurumatu.

Kurds make up two-thirds of Kirkuk's population of 800,000, with 25 percent Turkmen and the rest Arab Muslims and Christians.