Kurdish security forces in Kirkuk have threatened to kill Arab residents if they do not leave the northern Iraqi city ahead of a contentious population census scheduled for later this month, Iraqi officials said Friday.
The officials told the German Press Agency dpa that Arab Sunnis and Shiites in the city were asked to leave under the pretext that they were not native residents of Kirkuk. When they refused to do so, they were reportedly threatened.
"Dozens of Arabs have been threatened with death and displacement for the past three days," said Rakan al-Joubouri, the deputy governor of Kirkuk.
He said threats were being made by the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Abdullah Rifaat, a leading official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, denied the allegations. He said the police and the Kurdish security forces had only tried to encourage Arabs to register with the authorities.
Al-Joubouri nevertheless called on the Iraqi government to intervene immediately and send troops to protect the Arab and Turkmen populations of Kirkuk.
Some officials believe the attempted evictions were meant to coincide with the census, which is to be conducted October 24.
The census had previously been postponed for a year due to concerns that it would fuel sectarian and ethnic tensions in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul. The last Iraqi general census was conducted 23 years ago.
Opponents of the census fear that its numbers could be politicised in oil-rich areas where Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen reside.