Shafaq News-Kirkuk
Avesta Mohammedwas sworn in Monday before the competent court as qaimaqam (districtadministrator) of Kirkuk, completing a transfer of the post from the Turkmen tothe Kurdish component —the first such shift in years— under a politicalagreement that extends well beyond the province's borders.
Kirkuk is adisputed, oil-rich province claimed by both the Iraqi government and theKurdistan Regional Government (KRG), where control of senior administrativeposts has long functioned as a proxy for broader political power.
: Kirkuk installs its first Turkmen Governor in two decades, but not everyone accepts it
The appointmentwas one of several administrative changes formalized during a recent provincialcouncil session that simultaneously rotated the governorship among Kirkuk'sthree main communities —Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmens. Both moves trace to amultifaceted deal brokered in Baghdad in which the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan(PUK) agreed to cede the Kirkuk governorship to Turkmen and Sunni Arab factionsin exchange for legislative support for its candidate, Nizar Amedi, in theIraqi presidential election.
On April 17,the council elected Mohammed Samaan as governor under a rotating arrangement agreedat the al-Rasheed Hotel —a session boycotted by the Kurdistan Democratic Party(KDP). Monday's oath formalized the second element of that agreement.
The previousqaimaqam, Kamel al-Salihi, a KDP member, had held the post since before theOctober 2017 events in which the KDP withdrew from Kirkuk following a militaryoperation that reasserted federal and Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) controlover the province.
: Discover Iraq: Kirkuk, a city of oil, culture, and conflict