Turkmen and Arab citizens protest against handing the KDP its headquarters in Kirkuk back

Shafaq News/ Hundreds of Arab and Turkmen citizens demonstrated outside the advanced headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in Kirkuk, protesting handing the headquarters back to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

Shafaq News Agency correspondent said that the demonstrators gathered near the headquarters after a decision was made to evacuate the headquarters today, Monday, in accordance with the recent agreement between the Federal and Regional governments.

In 2017, the Iraqi forces, supported by Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces-PMF), took over the headquarters of KDP, headed by the Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, in Kirkuk and other districts, after the latter withdrew from the disputed areas against the repercussions of the independence referendum carried out by the Kurdish Regional Government in September of the same year.