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US supports Kirkuk referendum 27.1.2007 |
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January 27, 2007
The US Department of State said it supported Iraq's
plan to hold a referendum on Kirkuk and reiterated
its view that the problem had to be solved as
outlined in the Iraqi constitution.
Article 140 of the constitution that passed in 2005
envisages holding a referendum on the future of
Kirkuk by the end of this year.
Sean McCormack, spokesman for the department, said
during a routine press conference, "The way to solve
the Kirkuk problem is in the Iraqi constitution and
the Iraqis have already a running process in their
hands that tells them how to determine the status of
Kirkuk."
He also said about Kirkuk bomb attacks, "This is a
very difficult issue and it will be the
responsibility of Iraqis to find a solution."
He also made a reference to the outlawed separatist
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and said that Turkey
had justified concerns over this terrorist group.
McCormack also remarked that retired Gen. Joseph
Ralston, the US special envoy in the struggle
against the PKK, was working close to the Turkish
and Iraqi governments, and said, "We are working to
find constructive ways for Iraq and Turkey in terms
of all possible concerns that could arise on both
sides of the border."
todayszaman com
* Kirkuk has an overwhelmingly Kurdish population
despite Saddam Hussein's arabization efforts during
the 1980's and 1990's. The country's diverse ethnic
and religious groups lived in relative peace in
Kirkuk for generations.
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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