Dienstag, 17.10.2017 / 14:25 Uhr

Viele Fragen zu Kirkuk

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Aus dem Netz

Was geschah am 16.10.2017, der wohl als einer der schwärzesten Tage in die Geschichte Kurdistans eingehen wird, in Kirkuk? Seth Frantzman sucht nach Antworten während inzwischen sämtliche von den Kurden seit 2014 kontrollierten Gebiete weitgehend kampflos an irakische Truppen übergeben wurden.

"This indicated that there was never an intention to defend the city and there was likely no plan to defend it. The city could have resisted. No leaders wanted to defend it."

The rapid and unprecedented fall of Kirkuk on October 16, 2017 will likely be remembered as a turning point in Kurdish history and perhaps Iraq’s history. It reversed years of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s achievements. It resulted in the loss of oil fields and strategic areas for the Kurdish autonomous region. It resulted also in the reduction in status of a major city that Kurds have fought for with Baghdad over decades. It set back the autonomous region’s attempts in 2017 to assert more control, including flying the Kurdish flag from government institutions and including the city in the independence referendum on September 25.  Kirkuk had come under total KRG control when the Iraqi army collapsed and fled in 2014 as Islamic State attacked. Now the Kurdish Peshmerga have collapsed and fled in the face of a powerful Iraqi army and its Shia militia or Hashd al-Shaabi Popular Mobilization Units. The Iraqi central government sent all their best US-trained and US-equipped units to take Kirkuk including the ISOF and Iraqi armored columns, Federal police and ERD.

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Despite boasts that locals would fight for the city on the night of October 14 and 15, the city fell without almost a shot being fired. There were dozens of casualties in a few crises, but for a city of at least 1 million people to be captured in less than 12 hours, it was unprecedented. (...)

Kirkuk was abandoned without any attempt to withdraw in an orderly manner: If there was a deal why wasn’t the city handed over in a normal and orderly manner. Instead Kurdish forces fled. One Peshmerga wrote on Facebook “the peshmerga by far and large were not notified of the backdoor deal by some PUK. The deaths of peshmerga and any civilians lies solely on [those] who made a deal and left their men to die and gave little notice of the plan…We had 0 notice of pulling back. And we barely made it out as rocketfire came down. Also every PUK checkpoint we drove past was abandoned. There wasn’t a single person manning the checkpoints and this was far past Dibz as well.”

Whereas it took the Iraqi army 9 months to take Mosul, it took 9 hours to take Kirkuk. No barricades were erected and all those who came onto the streets on the night of October 14 and 15 did not fight. The governor and others who had vowed that morale was high, did not stand. On October 16th Iraqi forces wandered into the abandoned governors office and others walked around the local council.

This indicated that there was never an intention to defend the city and there was likely no plan to defend it. The city could have resisted. No leaders wanted to defend it. This was not even a rout or debacle, it was completely abandoned. This represents a massive failure of leadership. The fact that there were secret deals and Peshmerga left their positions has spread rumormongering and left bitter recriminations in the Kurdish region. Obviously the Kurdish leadership that made the choice to leave Kirkuk thought that if they had told the citizens this might have led to a local coup in the city or mass demand to defend it. But doing it secretly appears like a betrayal. The question of who betrayed who is still being cast around by all sides. But this only emboldens and strengthens Baghdad and Iran. It makes the KRG seem incapable of behaving like a state, the very independence it seeks. The success of Baghdad at dividing the Kurdish leadership and taking such an important city, imposing its will more than Baghdad was able to do from 2003 to present, is a major achievement for Baghdad. Now Iraq’s authorities will be emboldened to do more. In addition those who made the deal will be entirely reliant on Iran.