ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Saturday reopened its Kirkuk-Garmian organization bureau, eight years after its closure in 2017 at the hands of the Iraqi military.

Following the capture of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces from the Peshmerga on October 16, 2017, the KDP's offices in the city were seized and closed down.

The KDP on Saturday reopened its organization office in the city, coming less than two years after the reopening of their representative office in Kirkuk in November 2023.

"We always have been, and will be in Kirkuk, even if we were absent physically for a period due to certain reasons, the KDP and Barzani path's organization and Kurdish ideology has been rooted in Kirkuk, it will stay, and grow day by day," Head of the Executive Committee at KDP's Political Bureau Fazel Mirani said in a speech during the ceremony.

Mirani added that "the party [KDP] is insistent on a review being conducted in Kurdistan, and doing whatever is necessary for unity and the return of Kurdish strength in speeding along the installation of the Kurdish parliament and the formation of a government.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​"

The reopening comes amid rising tensions between the Kurdistan Region and Iraq over Kirkuk.

The Iraqi army in mid-February attacked a number of Kurdish farmers, preventing them from cultivating their lands in northern Kirkuk’s Sargaran subdistrict, despite the passage of a law in the Iraqi parliament shortly before facilitating the return of properties confiscated under the previous Ba’ath regime to their original Kurdish and Turkmen owners in areas subjected to the Arabization process.

The attack prompted condemnations from several Kurdish officials, with Prime Minister Masrour Barzani saying that it is "contrary" to the constitution, while former Kurdistan Region President and KDP leader Masoud Barzani denounced the move as a "chauvinistic" act.