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Nechirvan Barzani: We Seek to Maintain
Friendly Ties with Turkey
30.1.2007
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January 30, 2007
Addressing an unusual gathering of the Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) National Assembly on
January 24, KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani
said that bilateral relations between KRG and
neighboring Turkey should be based on mutual
respect.
Ankara has repeatedly requested the postponement of
implementing Article 140 of the Iraqi permanent
constitution.
The article embraces normalization of
areas in Iraq, especially in Kirkuk, that suffered
demographic change as a result of the Arabization
policy adopted by the former Iraqi regime. Moreover,
Turkish authorities have held several meetings
within their own country to discuss the issue of
Kirkuk city.
"We, all the components of Iraqi Kurdistan Region,
seek to win back all the rights taken away from us
through the Iraqi
permanent constitution. Besides, the article does
not include only Kirkuk, but also similar areas in
Karbala, Najaf, Baghdad
and a number of other Iraqi cities," said Prime
Minister Barzani. |
Flash Video in Kurdish, Kurdistan TV
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister
Nechirvan Barzani. |
"If Turkey wants to resolve these issues with
threats, they will be the big losers. Any delay in
implementing Article 140 will
further worsen the issue of Kirkuk. Amid this
situation, Iraqi Kurds take the role of the
facilitator; if it was not for the Iraqi
Kurds, the situation in Kirkuk would have been much
worse than what it is now," warned Barzani. He
concluded by stating
that KRG desired to maintain friendly relations with
Turkey.
There are more than 4,500 companies currently
working in Kurdistan Region. Of those, 500 are
foreign companies, including
some from Turkey, and are involved in investment
activities in the region.
Nechirvan Barzani said "The Turkish threats will not
scare us. The era of threats has ended and we were
never a factor of threat for regional states." He
added that had the Kurds wanted to take Kirkuk by
force they would have done it after the fall of
Saddam Hussein's regime.
"If Turkey wants to solve the problems by threats
then it will be the main loser," Barzani said after
the parliament meeting.
Kurdistan Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani last Wednesday said the Kurds were not demanding to take
back Kirkuk just for oil but because they were
evicted from their homes there during the former
Iraqi regime.
He also said talks would start next week with the
Iraqi government to reach an oil law.
"The Kurds are not demanding Kirkuk for the oil and
the oil law to be worked out with the Iraqi
government will solve 60% of the problem," Barzani
told an extraordinary session of Kurdistan National
Assembly.
AP | Kurdish Globe | VOI
**
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced more than 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 a Kurdistani city and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region and it 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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