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Iraqi Turkmen Front leader Arshad al-Salihi said yesterday that the return of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to Iraq`s oil-rich Kirkuk city and to the disputed regions would cause irreversible problems.
Al-Salihi told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) asked the United Nations to establish a joint operations center with the Iraqi security forces to facilitate the return of Peshmerga to Kirkuk. `As Iraqi Turkmen and Iraqi Turkmen Front. we are warning all national. regional and global parties. The security weakness that would emerge [after the Peshmerga`s return] will prepare the ground for terrorist activities. especially of the PKK and Daesh. which would put the security of Turkmen at risk.` he said.
One month after northern Iraq`s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) held a controversial referendum on regional independence last September. Iraqi forces backed by Shiite militias dislodged Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who had taken control of Kirkuk city in 2014. preventing its capture by Daesh terrorists who had overrun Iraqi army positions in northern and western Iraq. The Turkmen leader added that the fate of the region could not be left to the initiative of a single group. calling on the Baghdad administration to avoid making Kirkuk and Turkmen areas a political bargaining chip.
Al-Salihi also called on Turkish officials to be sensitive on this issue in their talks with their Iraqi counterparts.
`If the Turkmen are not safe. Iraq is not safe. Turkmen are the backbone of Iraq.` he said.
