AKIPRESS.COM - Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities in Kirkuk are forcing internally displaced Sunni Turkmen to leave the city, Human Rights Watch saidMay 7.

Affected residents said that the regional government’s Asayish security forces confiscated their identity and benefits cards and otherwise harassed them. They said the intention was to compel them to return to towns under the control of abusive Shia units of the Iraqi government’s Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashd al-Sha’abi or PMF). The Sunni Turkmen said they thought the abuses were linked to the perception among KRG authorities that the Turkmen come from areas where some Sunni residents supported the Islamic State (also known as ISIS).

“All Iraqis have the right to live in safety, and forcing displaced Turkmen families out of their homes to parts of the country where they would be in danger is particularly egregious,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “KRG forces should cease harassing Turkmen and unlawfully forcing them to leave Kirkuk.”

In a written response to a Human Rights Watch inquiry, a KRG spokesperson denied that displaced people were being given a deadline to leave Kirkuk, a major city in Iraq’s so-called “disputed territories” between the Iraqi government and the KRG, and that any religious or ethnic groups, including Turkmen, were being discriminated against. He said, however, that based on a decision by local authorities, displaced people “whose areas have been liberated months or a year ago are assisted to return to their original areas of residence.”