Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government releases detained Arabs from Kirkuk

KIRKUK, Iraq

The Peshmerga and military forces of the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government released several Arab citizens Sunday from Kirkuk who were detained without court orders.

The detainees were taken to the northeastern city of Sulaymaniyah between 2003 and 2017.

Arab lawmaker Wasfi al-Asi said at a news conference in Kirkuk that some Arabs from Kirkuk, who had been detained without legal proceedings and held in prisons in Sulaymaniyah, were recently released.

He said efforts would continue until all of the detainees were freed and returned. He urged similar steps in Erbil.

Families of detainees, some of whom have been missing for years, expressed hope that their loved ones would be among those released.

During the unilateral administration of Kirkuk by Kurdish political parties, particularly between 2003 and 2017, thousands of Arab residents of Kirkuk were detained without court orders by government-affiliated Peshmerga and Asayish forces and transferred to Sulaymaniyah and Erbil, where they were held without legal proceedings.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul