A committee that included Turkish intelligence agents visited the Kirkuk Governorate on January 17 and held a secret meeting with the Turkmen and Arab members of the Kirkuk City Council. Following this meeting, the Kirkuk Governorate has launched a profiling campaign against Kurds.

Reports say the Kirkuk Governorate sent a notice to neighborhood and village headmen in the province and asked them to “determine families who have contact with the PKK”. The notice signed by Kirkuk Governor Rakan Said has been sent to all headmen in the province.

One of the headmen who wishes to stay anonymous for safety reasons spoke to the ANF and said the notice asked them to “determine families in Kirkuk who support the PKK or have children in the ranks of the PKK”.

The headmen were also asked to remove posters of Kurdish People’s Leader Abdullah Öcalan from the neighborhoods and paint over pro-PKK graffiti on the streets.

On January 17, a committee that included the Turkish MİT and members of the Turkish Consulate in Hewlêr went to Kirkuk in secret and met with Arab and Turkmen city council members in the governorate.

The committee met with Kirkuk Governor Rakan Said and has reportedly proposed to “form a military force comprised of Arabs and Turkmens and act together so the city will be controlled by Arabs and Turkmens”.

Two officials from Iraqi intelligence, one aide of MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, the Turan Brigade under the Iraqi Turkmen Front, Sunni Arab circles and Kirkuk Governor Rakan Said had participated in the meeting that lasted three hours.