Threat of Islamic State quiets talk of Kirkuk's annexation
The security developments triggered by the Islamic State in Kirkuk have superseded talk about the annexation of the city to Iraqi Kurdistan.
One cannot assume that Iraqi positions on the future of oil-rich Kirkuk — a city that includes various nationalist, religious and sectarian minorities — have changed as a result of the turn of events set in motion by the fateful challenges presented by the Islamic State (IS). In the face of IS, the issue of Kirkuk and the disputed territories have become secondary.
The crisis that began with IS' occupation of Mosul and its later advance toward Salahuddin, Anbar and eastern and southern parts of Kirkuk — as well as its spread to Diyala and southern Baghdad — have tested all Iraqi parties. The residents and political leaders of Kirkuk are focused on concerns that are more important and more dangerous than talk of whether the city joins Iraqi Kurdistan or remains under the central government.
On June 10, IS occupied a number of Kirkuk districts, including the town of Hawija and the Riyadh district, both in the southeastern part of the city and populated by an Arab majority. The organization also took control of villages and towns populated by Turkmen majorities in Kirkuk's south, before an advance of Kurdish peshmerga succeeded in stopping its expansion to other areas.
A few days later it became clear that the theory that Kirkuk's Arabs would stand with IS — by virtue of their conflict with the Kurds and Turkmen over control of the city — had been proved wrong. The Naqshbandi Army, which sees the area as one of its traditional regions of influence, joined the fight against IS.
