Iraq's Provincial Elections: Kurds are positioning their Peshmerga militias in front of the Polling Centres of Tuz Khurmatu

The Peshmerga stand in front of the polling centres in

Tuz Khurmatu.

ITC Media Kerkuk
29th January 2009

Yesterday, two police members, one of whom was an officer, have been killed in front of one of the polling centres in the city of Tuz Khurmatu (75 Km south of Kerkuk).
As usual, the identities of the perpetrators of these assassinations are not known.

Using these attacks as a pretext, the Kurds have brought the Suleymaniya battalion from the fourth squad, known as Peshmerga, to Tuz Khurmatu and they have positioned 15 elements of this battalion to each of the city’s polling centres with an excuse of weakness in security. This, despite the fact that a battalion from the Governorate of Salaheddin had arrived immediately after the attack as has been confirmed by an official source from the Ministry of Interior.

When the Tuz Khurmatu branch of the Iraqi Turkmen Front objected to this procedure the Kurds suggested they would position their Peshmerga 200 meters from the polling centres. ITF refused this proposal and demanded the withdrawal of the Peshmerga outside the boundaries of the city.

The Iraqi Turkmen Front asked the government authorities to intervene immediately and together with other political parties ITF demanded that the security of the polling districts should be under the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior in order to ensure the transparency and impartiality of the elections so as to avoid the vote rigging and forgeries committed by the Kurds during the January 2005 elections.