Turkiye: Turkmen governor in Iraqi Kirkuk a historic shift

Shafaq News- Ankara/ Baghdad

Turkiye on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of a Turkmen governor in Iraq’s Kirkuk as a “historic” step toward inclusivity and power-sharing in one of the country’s most contested provinces.

In a statement, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said the election of Mohammed Samaan, Chairman of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, as governor reflects “fair representation and consolidation of social peace” in Kirkuk’s multi-ethnic society. The development, the ministry added, represents a “long-overdue acknowledgement” of the Turkmen community’s role in Iraq and supports a rotational system of governance among the province’s main components.

Samaan officially assumed office after receiving his certificate of appointment from the President of Iraq, following his election by the Kirkuk Provincial Council on April 16. He then sought to reassure residents over concerns surrounding the power-rotation mechanism, saying his administration would serve all communities without discrimination.

Kirkuk remains a disputed territory between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, with its status unresolved under Iraq’s constitution, and its governance is based on a rotational power-sharing system among Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen, aimed at balancing representation in the oil-rich and ethnically mixed province.

Samaan is the first Turkmen to assume the governorship since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, under an arrangement intended to break years of political deadlock. However, the transition remains contested, with some Kurdish parties criticizing the process and questioning the political agreements that led to the handover.

Read more: Kirkuk installs its first Turkmen Governor in two decades, but not everyone accepts it