|
Gul: Referendum without consensus offers
no solution in Kirkuk 11.8.2006
|
|
|
|
'The issue concerning
Kirkuk can be resolved via consensus. The point is
not to reach unproductive results by holding a
referendum, but reaching consensus,' says Turkey
Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul
ANKARA - Holding a referendum to determine
the status of the disputed Kurdish oil-rich city of
Kirkuk will not by itself offer a solution unless a
consensus is reached among the different ethnic
groups living in the city, according to Foreign
Minister Abdullah Gul.
Gul yesterday met with an Iraqi Turkmen delegation
who also spoke to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan on Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after the two-hour long
meeting at Istanbul's Ciragan Palace, Gul first of
all noted that it was the first time that
representatives of Sunni and Shiite Turkmen had paid
a visit to Turkey together, and underlined the
importance of this fact. |
 |
The Turkmen delegation
includes Saadettin Ergec, leader of the Iraqi
Turkmen Front (ITC), a Sunni group bringing together
different Turkmen groups and parties in Iraq. Shiite
Turkmen representatives from the Iraqi Parliament
are also a part of the visiting group.
Gul said this kind of representation should serve as
a model for the ongoing “senseless” dispute between
Sunni and Shiite groups in Iraq.
When asked whether the referendum on the fate of
Kirkuk, slated for 2007, was discussed during the
meeting, the minister put the emphasis on the fact
that the Kirkuk issue was a major one, on which
discussions should not be limited to terms of a
referendum.
“The issue concerning Kirkuk can be resolved via
consensus. The point is not to reach unproductive
results by holding a referendum, but reaching
consensus. [The point] is producing a consensus by
which people living there -- all of the Turkmen,
Kurds and Arabs -- will be able to live in peace and
quiet, and then taking this consensus to a
referendum. Otherwise, a referendum in itself will
not be a solution,” Gul said.
( 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.
Iraq's constitution outlines a process by which
those who were illegally displaced by the Hussein
regime would be compensated for confiscated property
or resettled in their old homes. Under the plan,
Arabs who relinquish Kurdish properties would also
receive relocation funds. The resettlement programs
would take place before a citywide census and 2007
referendum that will decide whether the oil-rich
province should be annexed to the semiautonomous
Kurdish region in Iraq's north.)
Ankara wants a special status for Kirkuk, a city
that sits atop 6 percent of the world's known oil
reserves and hosts an ethnically mixed population of
Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs.
With all the groups vying for control of the city,
Turkey is worried that a clash over Kirkuk could
have an impact on the rest of Iraq. It also opposes
domination of the city's administration by only one
of the ethnic groups, namely Kurds, promoting
instead a sort of special status that would give a
share to all.
The issue was also discussed during a meeting
between Prime Minister Erdogan and Iraqi Vice
President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab. Al-Hashemi,
too, met with Gul yesterday, following the latter's
talks with the Turkmen delegation.
The meetings in Istanbul came after recent visits to
Turkey from representatives of Iraqi Kurdish
parties. Officials insist that all visits have been
private.
When asked whether the Turkmen had particular
expectations from the Turkish government, Gul said:
“Needless to say that there is a tie between the
Turkish Republic and the Turkmen. The Turkmen, Kurds
and all other groups in Iraq are our relatives. We
have shown sympathy towards all of them.”
He also emphasized that the Turkmen should get
better organized for representation in Iraq's
political life alongside the reconstruction process.
turkishdailynews com.tr
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 