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Turkmens to Boycott Kirkuk Referendum if
Conditions Worsen 18.12.2006
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December 18, 2006
A Turkmen group said they were determined not to
participate in a critical referendum in Kirkuk. With
tense ethnic divisions and a Kurdish strategic
national interest in the city, Kirkuk has the
potential to be a major battlefield.
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) leader Sadettin Ergec was
in Ankara and met with a group of journalists on
Friday, responding to questions on several issues.
Ergec declared that Turkmen and Arab groups would
not participate in a referendum nor in the census if
the “normalization” of Kirkuk was not achieved.
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Sadettin Ergec, Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) leader |
The Iraq Study Group’s report on U.S. strategy in
Iraq was criticized as it recommended the withdrawal
of U.S. forces from the region in 2008. Ergec said
it was a mistake and they had to stay.
Ergec also questioned Turkey’s Iraq policy, claiming
that they shared “parallel thoughts but Turkey has
its own working system.”
zaman com
The former Iraqi president forced about 250,000
Kurdish residents to give up their homes to Arabs in
the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city is not under the full control of
Kurdistan Regional Government administration. A
referendum is to be held in late 2007 to decide
whether the oil-rich Kurdish province should be
annexed to the safe semiautonomous Kurdistan region
in Iraq's north.
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