KIRKUK, Iraq – The Kurdish governor and the provincial council chief of Iraq’s flashpoint city of Kirkuk have resigned in what political opponents said was a bid to ease public discontent with powerful Kurdish political parties.
Iraq’s Kurdish areas have been caught up in the political ferment sweeping North Africa and the Middle East this year, with public demonstrations against the firm rule of the two parties who jointly dominated Kurdish politics for decades.
Kirkuk lies just outside Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone and is divided among Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. Its provincial government has been led for years by the same Kurdish parties that control the semi-autonomous zone.
www.jpost.com, 23.03.2011
