Fall of Kirkuk a day before gave impetus to capitulation across northern Iraq, with Baghdad-backed forces facing no resistance

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Kurdish forces have abandoned lands they had controlled since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, allowing Iraqi troops to move into disputed areas that had been central to hopes for an independent Kurdistan with expanded borders.

In a stunning collapse, peshmerga units loyal to the de facto Kurdish president, Massoud Barzani, pulled out of the towns of Bashiqa, Khanaqin and Sinjar less than a day after surrendering the city of Kirkuk to the Iraqi military and allied Shia forces.

The withdrawals on Tuesday shattered ambitions to use a referendum on independence held on 25 September to consolidate a Kurdish hold on towns seized in the three-year war against Islamic State.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Civilians walk past Iraqi and Turkmen flags hanging from the side of the Citadel in the centre of Kirkuk. Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis/The Guardian

Less than three weeks later, the poll has had the opposite effect, stripping away the extra 40% of land – up to 36,000 sq km (14,000 sq miles) – its leaders had claimed and showcasing an intractable divide between the region’s two rival power bases.

The rapid fall of Kirkuk gave impetus to the capitulation across northern Iraq, with forces loyal to Baghdad sweeping unopposed into areas that military leaders thought they would have to fight for.

Instead, Iraqi troops found empty streets, shuttered shops and primitive roadblocks, which were quickly cleared, before the relaxed arrivals took up their new positions.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Iraqi forces enter Kirkuk on Monday. Photograph: Murtaja Lateef/EPA

Barzani, who has acted as president for the past two years, made his first statement since the surrender of Kirkuk, claiming the defeat did not mean the end of the independence project that he had championed.

“The loud voices you raised for the independence of Kurdistan that you sent to all nations and world countries will not be wasted now or ever,” he said in a statement.

“What happened in Kirkuk city was the result of unilateral decisions of some persons within a certain internal political party of Kurdistan, which eventually led to the withdrawal of the Peshmerga forces, as was seen.”

On the northern entrances to Kirkuk, a day after the rout, senior peshmerga officers appeared stunned by what had taken place. Few agreed to be interviewed as they set up new defences 25 miles away from the city.

Diggers gouged trenches in scorched brown earth, and bulldozers piled dirt into hilltop berms, while others cleared mounds on roads that had been intended to stop Iraqi advances.

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Gen Gazi Mala Salih, the director of Iraqi Kurdistan’s finance ministry, who acts as a senior officer, described the collapse of the city as a “truly historic betrayal” by allies and Kurds alike.

Sitting with other senior officers near one of the new positions, he said: “If you go back through the French Revolution and American history, self-determination has been a basic right.

“We had strong cards to play – 92.7% is the overwhelming support of people. The US, Britain and western powers are not faithful allies.

“They are lying to themselves and their people and they are betraying their principles. They should feel shame for the rest of their histories for not supporting us.

“I will be honest: I am ashamed to be an Iraqi. The Kurds provided a shield of 1,500 kilometres to protect the world from Isis, and this is what we get for our sacrifice.”

In Erbil – the centre of Barzani’s power base – the spectre of Iranian involvement in the attack on Kirkuk is a dominant theme.

There are also claims that Bafel Talabani, the son of the late leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc, allied with the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani to withdraw from the city.

Kirkuk’s defences collapsed after peshmerga units loyal to a faction of the PUK withdrew, allowing Iraqi forces easy access to the southern half of the city.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Peshmerga shaves on the side of the Hawler - Kirkuk road after his unit fled Kirkuk. Photograph: Achilleas Zavallis/The Guardian

Using a historical pejorative to describe Iran, Mala Salih said: “If the Safavid empire [the ruling dynasty in Iran from 1501 to 1722] is going to rise and rule our region, there is no difference between the turbans in Tehran and Najaf, and those of Isis. If I don’t accept Isis, I won’t accept them either.”

Addressing the intra-Kurdish dispute, which is at its most pronounced since the Kurdish civil war 20 years ago, he said: “If a tree doesn’t have a worm in it, it can live for 1,000 years.”

In the Kurdish districts of Kirkuk in the north of the city, all shops remained closed on Tuesday and streets were largely empty, except for drivers who had queued with their cars in long lines outside fuel stations.

Panic-buying has suddenly become common, with locals believing the Iraqi seizure of Kirkuk will lead to a reduced oil supply to Erbil in particular.

Waiting in a fuel queue, Peshtiwan Aziz, 31, said: “It was the Kurds who were divided who let the city fall. It should come back to its people now. This is a total assault on the rightful rulers of the city and it has been taken away from them by force.”

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Further south, towards Arab and Turkmen areas of the divided city, some shops were open, and residents mingled easily. Locals walked past Iraqi flags that had been hoisted over Kirkuk’s citadel, alongside a Turkmen banner and posters eulogising the late Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who was president of Iraq from 2005 to 2014.

In Sinjar, meanwhile, where the entire Yazidi community were forced into exile in August 2014, the few locals who had returned were wary of the return of Iraqi forces.

Yazidi units from the Popular Mobilisation Forces were first into the town, at the foot of Mount Sinjar, and were later joined by Shia forces.

“They have been fine, so far,” said Manal Nadhim, one of few local women to have returned, “but it’s more trauma for us. We just want our old life back.”

Additional reporting: Mohammed Rasool

