According to RojNews, the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) MP Erşat Salihi announced in a TV programme on Thursday that they reached an agreement with the KDP, the ruling party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq which is in close cooperation with the Turkish state, on the appointment of the Kirkuk Provincial Council chairman and the governor.

Speaking to RojNews, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) spokesperson Sadi Ahmet Pire said that they would not accept such an agreement regarding Kirkuk.

Remarking that these initiatives are being made by the forces in the region, Pire called on the parties in question ‘don't tire yourselves in vain’.

Rewend Mela Mahmud from PUK stated that the governor’s office of the city is the right of PUK and they will not compromise on this.

According to the results of the provincial general assembly elections held in Iraq on 18 December, ‘Kirkuk Our Power and Will Coalition’ led by PUK came first in Kirkuk with 5 seats. While the Arab Coalition won 3 seats with 102,558 votes, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITC) won 2 seats and Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) won 2 seats. KDP suffered a serious decline in the elections.

Following the PUK’s success, the negotiation traffic between Turkey and the KDP intensified. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Head of National Intelligence Organisation Ibrahim Kalin and most recently AKP President Tayyip Erdogan held meetings with the Barzanis under the KDP administration in the Federal Kurdistan Region after the elections.

The ITC statement regarding Kirkuk was made at a time when the Turkish state is expanding its occupation attacks in the region with the open complicity of the KDP which is harsly criticized by Kurdish forces and parties because of its partnership in the unlawful and anti-Kurdish genocidal campaign, operations and activities in the region.