ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s Ministry of Trade has ousted a Kurdish official in Kirkuk from its Trading Company for Construction Materials and has replaced him with a Turkmen. The official says this is part of anti-Kurd campaign in the disputed city.

“Based on our authorized jurisdiction, we have decided to relieve Mr. Dilshad Abbas Othman, an engineer from this company’s branch in the Kirkuk province of his duties from managing the branch, with cutting 15 percent of the position’s bonuses,” reads an official letter from the company dated August 13.

Dilshad Abbas Othman will be replaced by Esin Tahsin Othman, a Turkmen who will be the assistant director of the company’s storage in Kirkuk for a three-month probation period. He will get a 15 percent bonus for the position.

The ousted Kurd will become the assistant to the branch director.

“Some time ago, a committee from Baghdad visited us without spotting any violations,” Dilshad Abbas Othman, the ousted Kurd, told Rudaw. “When they returned, then they sent this letter to us.”

He posits that this is anti-Kurd campaign.

“This decision is within the framework of the anti-Kurd campaign in Kirkuk, implemented throughout the departments since October 16,” he added.

This isn’t the first Kurdish official to be ousted. Many Kurds in the disputed areas have been replaced by Arabs or Turkmen.

It began when Kirkuk Governor Najmaldin Karim, a Kurd, was removed from his post by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on October 16. Abadi appointed Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri, an Arab, to be acting governor.

Under the new governor, Kirkuk has faced a new round of Arabization. In late July, Jabouri made 1.3 billion square meters of land available to Arab settlers.

Many of these Arab settlers were brought to the disputed city by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s in a deliberate policy of Arabization.

Ahmad Askarai, a Kurdish member of the provincial council, told Rudaw the decision was “illegal and unconstitutional.”

Kurdish officials have tried to address the problem, but with little success. They are calling on the Iraqi government to honor the terms of Article 140.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan won six seats in Kirkuk in the parliamentary election in May. Three seats went to the Turkmen Front, three an Arab alliance, and one for Christians, according to the minority quota rule.

Rudaw