Kirkuk - IRQ
Kirkuk, Iraq, May 4, 2018 (AFP) - In the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk it is hard to find posters of Kurdish candidates for Iraq's upcoming elections, but the campaigns of other hopefuls are in full swing.
The past seven months have seen a dramatic turn of events in Kirkuk, the "Jerusalem of Kurdistan" where hopes of independence for Iraqi Kurdistan were dashed after Baghdad retaliated against a referendum held in September.
The May 12 national elections have been welcomed by the city's Arab and Turkmen politicians, who are busy organising campaign meetings and whose election posters hang proudly in place.
In the Kurdish neighbourhood of Rahim Awa, home to the polling station that received the largest number of votes in the referendum, passers-by prefer not to discuss the return to the polls.
Only Freidoun Rahim, a 41-year-old Kurdish labourer, was willing to express his view.
"I voted yes in the referendum but today we have to live together -- Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen -- and so I will vote on May 12," he told AFP, without indicating which list he supported.
Rahim is one of around 940,000 registered voters in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, who will decide between 291 candidates -- 80 percent of which are new faces -- divided into 31 lists.
The hopefuls are vying for just 13 seats, one of which is already reserved for a Christian politician.
In the 2014 elections Kurds took eight of the available seats, with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) winning six seats and their rivals the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) securing the other two. Kirkuk's Arab and Turkmen communities each saw two lawmakers voted into parliament.
The outcome of this month's vote remains uncertain, with the KDP -- which initiated the referendum -- calling for a boycott and declaring the province an "occupied territory".
Other Kurdish groups have refused to present a unified list of candidates, while the PUK is urging its supporters to go to the polls.
But the party is facing allegations of betrayal after it facilitated the federal army's takeover of the province six months ago.
Federal troops pushed Kurdish forces out of Kirkuk and its oilfields in October, part of Baghdad's response to the "illegal" referendum that also saw the central government impose economic sanctions.
"My presence in Kirkuk during these difficult times is proof of my loyalty to the city," declares a slogan on the election poster of lawmaker Rebwar Taha Mustafa, head of the PUK list.
Speaking to AFP in his office, Mustafa alluded to the Arab and Turkmen groups: "Today we are witnessing the revenge of certain people."
He said the PUK had no choice but to allow federal troops into Kirkuk in October.
"The referendum changed the equation, but it's very temporary," the 40-year-old politician said, while admitting it is unlikely the PUK will do as well in this year's election.
"Kirkuk is Iraqi, yes, but with a Kurdish identity. The Kurds will still win but not with eight seats as in the last poll."
When Kirkuk residents went out to vote in September, they were met with the green, white and red Kurdish flag, a sun in the centre, flying in the streets.
It has since been replaced by the blue Turkmen flag, adorned with a crescent moon and one star, along with slogans for Arab candidates declaring "Kirkuk belongs to its residents".
"The next elections will show the real weight of different communities," said Turkmen politician Hassan Tauran.
"We warned the Kurds that the cost of the referendum would be very high and those that imagine a return (to the situation before) are dreaming," he told AFP.
His view was echoed by Amer al-Juburi, a candidate from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's list, who said: "Kirkuk is Iraqi, those who don't like the new situation can go elsewhere."
The political change can be seen in the office of governor Rakan al-Juburi, the Arab replacement of a pro-independence Kurd, who removed a photo of PUK founder Jalal Talabani from the wall.
The image has been replaced by one of Fuad Masum, a Kurd who is also Iraq's sitting president.
ac/sk/sbh/rsc/dco/fa
![]()
Dispirited Kurds shy away from Iraqi elections in Kirkuk
Dispirited Kurds shy away from Iraqi elections in Kirkuk
China executes 11 linked to Myanmar scam compounds
- Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users have flourished across Southeast Asia
- The 11 people executed Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in Wenzhou
BEIJING: China executed 11 people linked telecom scam operations, on Thursday, state media reported, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry.
Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar.
Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world.
Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work.
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation with regional governments to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to face trial in China’s opaque justice system.
The 11 people executed Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, state news agency Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions.
Crimes of those executed included “intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment,” Xinhua said.
The death sentences were approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was “conclusive and sufficient,” the report said.
Among the executed were “key members” of the notorious “Ming family criminal group,” whose activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to “many others,” Xinhua added.
Fighting fraud ‘cancer’
Fraud operations centered in Myanmar’s border regions have extracted billions of dollars from around the world through phone and Internet scams.
Experts say most of the centers are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias.
The fraud activities — and crackdowns by Beijing — are closely followed in China.
Asked about the latest executions, a spokesman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said that “for a while, China has worked with Myanmar and other countries to combat cross-border telecom and Internet fraud.”
“China will continue to deepen international law enforcement cooperation” against “the cancer of gambling and fraud,” spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference.
The September rulings that resulted in Thursday’s executions also included death sentences with two-year reprieves to five other individuals.
Another 23 suspects were given prison sentences ranging from five years to life.
In November, Chinese authorities sentenced five people to death for their involvement in scam operations in Myanmar’s Kokang region.
Their crimes had led to the deaths of six Chinese nationals, according to state media reports.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned in April that the cyberscam industry was spreading across the world, including to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific Islands.
The UN has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are working in scam centers globally.
Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in the lawless borderlands of Myanmar.
Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world.
Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work.
In recent years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation with regional governments to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to face trial in China’s opaque justice system.
The 11 people executed Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, state news agency Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions.
Crimes of those executed included “intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment,” Xinhua said.
The death sentences were approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was “conclusive and sufficient,” the report said.
Among the executed were “key members” of the notorious “Ming family criminal group,” whose activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to “many others,” Xinhua added.
Fighting fraud ‘cancer’
Fraud operations centered in Myanmar’s border regions have extracted billions of dollars from around the world through phone and Internet scams.
Experts say most of the centers are run by Chinese-led crime syndicates working with Myanmar militias.
The fraud activities — and crackdowns by Beijing — are closely followed in China.
Asked about the latest executions, a spokesman for Beijing’s foreign ministry said that “for a while, China has worked with Myanmar and other countries to combat cross-border telecom and Internet fraud.”
“China will continue to deepen international law enforcement cooperation” against “the cancer of gambling and fraud,” spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular press conference.
The September rulings that resulted in Thursday’s executions also included death sentences with two-year reprieves to five other individuals.
Another 23 suspects were given prison sentences ranging from five years to life.
In November, Chinese authorities sentenced five people to death for their involvement in scam operations in Myanmar’s Kokang region.
Their crimes had led to the deaths of six Chinese nationals, according to state media reports.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned in April that the cyberscam industry was spreading across the world, including to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific Islands.
The UN has estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are working in scam centers globally.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.