KIRKUK, Iraq

The Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) has reiterated opposition to the handover of the Joint Operations Command building in Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had recently ordered the Iraqi army to leave the former KDP headquarters.

Speaking to Anadolu, ITF chairman Hasan Turan said the Joint Operation Command building should not be used for political goals.

“The building was used as the Joint Operations Command since the government forces entered in the city on Oct. 16, 2017,” Turan said.

“It is the symbol of the stability, security and peace of Kirkuk,” he added.

Last week, protests broke out in Kirkuk against the government decision to hand over the building to the KDP.

KDP argues that the building was previously used by them and it should be given back to the party.

Turan stressed that the Joint Operations Command building in Kirkuk belongs to the Ministry of Petroleum.

“No party can use it for political activity,” he said. “We will not accept the use of this symbolic building for political purposes.”

The Turkmen leader said the Kirkuk local administration has spent about 1 billion dinars ($760,458) on the reconstruction of the building “to be used as the Joint Operations Command.”

He said Turkmens await a decision by the judiciary on the ownership of the building.

Peshmerga forces of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) were deployed to bases evacuated by the Iraqi army in Kirkuk following the emergence of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in 2014.

In 2017, Iraqi government forces entered Kirkuk, ending the Peshmerga presence in the city.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi