KIRKUK, Iraq: A curfew on parts of Iraq’s Kirkuk was lifted Tuesday and the city was calm despite fears of unrest over a vote on Kurdish independence.
Police said the curfew, imposed during the vote on Monday, had been lifted at 5:00 am (0200 GMT) and an AFP journalist saw heavy traffic and shops opening as normal.
“The situation is stable and normal,” Kirkuk police chief Khattab Omar Aref said.
The city of about one million is divided between Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen populations and took part in the independence vote despite not being part of northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.
The curfew was imposed in the city center, as well as in Arab and Turkmen neighborhoods, as night fell on Monday. Police said the move was to ensure public security and protect the city’s residents.
Baghdad denounced Monday’s vote as illegal and raised particular concern over the fact it was being held in disputed areas outside the boundaries of Iraqi Kurdistan. Results were to be announced later on Tuesday and an overwhelming “yes” victory was expected.
The non-Arab Kurds say that historically Kirkuk belongs to them, arguing that the late dictator Saddam Hussein chased them out and replaced them with Arabs.
The curfew did not apply in Kurdish areas of Kirkuk, where residents celebrated voting with music, fireworks and shots fired in the air.
Curfew lifted in Iraq’s Kirkuk after Kurdish vote
Curfew lifted in Iraq’s Kirkuk after Kurdish vote
US envoy Witkoff meets Netanyahu in Jerusalem: Israeli official
- Witkoff’s talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday marked his second encounter with the Israeli prime minister in less than a fortnight
JERUSALEM: US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, an Israeli official said, during a visit that followed the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt.
The official told AFP that the meeting was taking place in Jerusalem, but declined to provide details on the agenda.
It came as the United States was expected to hold talks with Israel’s arch-foe Iran later this week.
An Arab official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the meeting was likely to take place in Turkiye on Friday, following diplomatic interventions by Ankara, as well as Egypt, Oman and Qatar.
Witkoff’s talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday marked his second encounter with the Israeli prime minister in less than a fortnight. His previous visit took place days before the Rafah crossing was reopened.
Israeli media reported at the time that Witkoff and fellow US envoy Jared Kushner had pressed for the reopening of the crossing.
