The third option is to renew the current council and push it to appoint a new governor. Although Turkmens and the PUK once supported the dismissal of the council, both now favor the council's renewal. Before the Kurdish referendum, the Iraqi Turkmen members of parliament had even launched a petition calling for the dissolution of Kirkuk’s provincial council and collected 74 signatures of members of parliament for that purpose.
Similarly, Bafel Talabani, a PUK member and son of former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (who died last month), addressed the people of Kurdistan on Oct. 12, suggesting the dissolution of the Kirkuk provincial council and the removal of the governor, if needed.
After the federal takeover of Kirkuk, 15 to 16 members of the provincial council from the Kurdish Brotherhood list left for Erbil, changing the balance of power on the council. The current situation and the absence of these members have put the Kurds in a weak position. If there were to be an election for a new council, the Turkmens likely would go from being the second strongest list in the province to the third; Turkmens are overrepresented on the council as a result of a low Arab turnout in the 2005 election.
Bafel Talabani’s statement, on the other hand, had much to do with rivalry between between the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Kirkuk and internecine squabbles within PUK wings. His wing has now struck against the KDP and his opponents within the PUK. For example, the KDP, which has held sway in Erbil, is the Kurdish party that has been hurt the most by the recent events in Kirkuk and other disputed territories.
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