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Protest against U.S. Iraq Study Group
report held in Kirkuk 12.12.2006
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KIRKUK,
Kurdistan-Iraq, December 12, -- About 1,500 people
marched through Kirkuk city on Tuesday to protest a
recommendation by the U.S.
Iraq Study Group that a referendum on the future of
this oil-rich city be delayed.
The commission, headed by former U.S. Republican
secretary of state James A. Baker III and former
Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton said: "Given the
very dangerous situation in Kirkuk, international
arbitration is necessary to avert communal violence.
A referendum on the future of Kirkuk would be
explosive and should be delayed."
The protesters carried placards with slogans such as
"No, no for Baker" in three different languages:
Arabic, Kurdish and Turkoman.
Iraq's constitution stipulates that the fate of the
northern, oil-rich city of Kirkuk be decided in a
regional referendum by the end of next year.
The city is claimed by the Kurds, who want to annex
it to their self-rule region. But Kirkuk's Arab and
Turkomen residents reject that claim, and the city
has been plagued by sectarian violence and insurgent
attacks since 2003.
Iraq's Kurds and Shiites combine for about 80
percent of Iraq's 26 million population. They
suffered the most under Saddam Hussein's ousted
Sunni-led regime.
The Kurds and Shiites are Iraq's strongest
proponents of federalism, enshrined in a new
constitution adopted last year.
Sunni Arabs, however, see federalism as a prelude to
partitioning the country into a Kurdish north, a
Shiite south, leaving them in a central Iraq bereft
of oil and other natural resources.
They have also opposed purging members of Saddam's
now-ousted Baath party from government jobs and the
armed forces, saying this was a roundabout way to
punish members of their community.
Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, a longtime
Washington ally and president of the 15-year-old
autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, has
angrily rejected Iraq Study Group recommendations,
warning that any delay in deciding the fate of an
oil-rich region the Kurds claim would have "grave
consequences."
President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd, agreed with
Barzani's assessment, saying the report sought to
give too much authority to the central government.
AP
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