A Renewed Arab Political Boycott in Kirkuk

Kirkuk's Arab Political Council threatened with demonstrations, sit-ins and boycotts last summer, if their demands were not implemented after Ramadan. After Ramadan there were however no protests, sit-ins, but they did decide to launch a boycott. Kirkuk's Arab nationalist politicians declared they decided to boycott the Kirkuk Provincial Council to protest the bad security situation, and the alleged targeting of Arabs in Kirkuk. The security situation is deteriorating and there are discussions between the different ethnic political factions how to deal with security. The Arab nationalists in Kirkuk called for military intervention from Baghdad, while the Kurdish nationalist parties prefer the local security forces over the army. The Turkmen nationalists on the other hand decided to form their own 'Turkmen militia', which resulted in Arab politicians claiming they would form their own defense committees to defend Arabs. In other developments, there were tensions between Kirkuk's Arab politicians and Iraqiyya. Last Sunday Iraqiyya List leader Iyad Allawi visited Kurdish leaders in Erbil. This resulted in protests of Kirkuk's Arab politicians who suggested there was a deal. Kirkuk's Arab politicians supported the Iraqiyya list during the 2010 elections, but there are tensions between them and the Iraqiyya list. They fear the Iraqiyya leadership could sign a deal with the Kurds. But the Iraqiyya list is weak and divided. Recently there were claims the Iraqi parliament speaker Osama Nujayfi had an argument with Iraqiyya list leader Iyad Allawi.