BAGHDAD/KIRKUK: Iraq’s parliament on Thursday voted to remove the governor of Kirkuk, a staunch supporter of Kurdish independence, following a request from Prime Minister Haider al Abadi just days before a referendum on whether to split from Baghdad.
Governor Najmaddin Kareem said he was not going anywhere and Kurdish leaders vowed to carry on with the vote planned for September 25.
Iraqi lawmakers authorised Abadi this week to “take all measures” to preserve national unity before the independence referendum.
Baghdad and Iraq’s neighbours are opposed to the vote. Iraqi lawmakers say it will consolidate Kurdish control over several disputed areas, including oil-rich Kirkuk.
The province is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.
Kurdish leaders immediately rejected Baghdad’s move on Thursday, insisting the parliament had no right to vote out the elected Kareem. Kareem himself vowed to ignore parliament and press on with the plebiscite.
“I will stay in office,” he said. “The referendum will go on as planned.” “The prime minister does not have the power to ask parliament to remove me,” he said.
Kareem is a vocal supporter of the referendum and advocated for the vote to be held in Kirkuk.
Kurds have long claimed Kirkuk and its huge oil reserves. They regard the city, just outside their Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, as their historical capital. But the ethnically mixed city also has Arab and Turkmen populations.
The referendum has become a potential flashpoint in the region, with Western powers worrying it could ignite conflict with the central government in Baghdad and divert attention from the war against Islamic State militants.
Turkey has the region’s largest Kurdish population and fears a “Yes” vote could fuel separatism in its southeast where Kurdish militants have waged an insurgency for three decades in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. Iran and Syria also oppose the vote, fearing it could fan separatism among their own Kurdish populations. — Reuters
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