ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The tenure of Kirkuk’s Kurdish governor will expire at the end of this year, a senior member of one of Iraq’s main Sunni parties said on Friday as debate heats up about whether or not governorship of the disputed province will rotate between Kurdish and Arab factions.
The “term of Mr. Rebwar Taha, the governor of Kirkuk from the [Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK] party, ends on the night of December 31, 2025,” Mohammed Ali Tamim, Iraq's planning minister and member of the Taqadum party, said in a Facebook post.
Tamim said this deal on Kirkuk’s governance reached last summer stipulates that key posts will rotate between the province’s components. A member of the PUK has denied that such a provision exists.
The debate began when Taqadum leader Mohammed al-Halbousi visited Kirkuk earlier this week for a rally ahead of Iraq’s November parliamentary election. He told supporters that their agreement with the PUK includes a provision that the post of governor will be shared.
Ahmed Kirkuki, a PUK member in the provincial council, denied that there is such an agreement.
“Mohammed al-Halbousi's visit to Kirkuk was for the purpose of an electoral campaign. Due to public pressure, he mentioned that they have an agreement with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan to hand over the position of Kirkuk governor to an Arab after two years. Otherwise, there is no evidence that such an agreement has been made,” Kirkuki told Rudaw on Thursday.
He declined to discuss the contents of their governance deal.
Two members of the Kirkuk provincial council from Halbousi’s party censured Kirkuki’s comments on Friday.
Dhaher al-Assi and Raad Salih said in a joint statement that their agreement with the PUK includes rotating the post of governor between Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens and that Kirkuki himself is one of the signatories of the deal. They urged all the signing parties and guarantors to “uphold their responsibilities towards the people” and called on the PUK to clarify if Kirkuki’s remarks represent the party’s stance on the matter.
Kirkuk is an ethnically diverse province. Representation of its Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen populations in government is a frequent source of disagreement.
Taha was controversially appointed governor in a meeting held in Baghdad in August last year after months of talks. Nine council members attended - five from the PUK, three Arabs, and the Christian quota member. Salih and Assi were part of the coalition that made the agreement. The KDP, Turkmen Front, and Sunni Arab Alliance boycotted the session, calling it illegal and later challenging it in court, though the judiciary upheld the appointment.
Salih and Assi announced their withdrawal from the coalition with the PUK in May, saying key terms of the deal had not been implemented.