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Iraqi parliament opens probe into delays
over status of northern Kurdish oil-rich Kirkuk
18.11.2007
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November
18, 2007
BAGHDAD,-- Iraq's parliament on Saturday
ordered an inquiry into the delay of a referendum
over whether the oil-rich Kurdish city of Kirkuk
will join the semiautonomous Kurdistan region in the
north. Kirkuk city lies just south border of the
Kurdistan autonomous region.
The Iraqi constitution requires that a referendum on
the future status of the city be held by the end of
this year to determine whether it will remain under
Baghdad's control, become part of Kurdistan or gain
autonomy from both.
The constitution also calls for a census to be held
in Kirkuk by the end of 2007, to determine how many
Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen reside in the city. Kurds
dispute the results of censuses conducted under
Saddam Hussein.
With just one and half months left in the year,
Iraqi officials on Saturday confirmed that the
census and referendum have been postponed until next
year.
"November 15 was the original date set for the
referendum on Kirkuk, but Iraqi authorities were not
able to meet it," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman
said.
"Today, the Iraqi parliament summoned the Article
140 committee in order to question members about
what they achieved, what they have not - and why,"
he said. Article 140 is the section of the Iraqi
constitution that lays out rules governing Kirkuk's
future status.
www.ekurd.net
Othman said the parliament was awaiting an official
request from committee members to discuss setting a
new date for the referendum.
Kirkuk is an especially coveted city for both the
Shiite-dominated Iraqi government in Baghdad and the
Kurdish one in Erbil.
Much of Iraq's vast oil wealth lies under the ground
in the Kirkuk region, as well as in the
Shiite-controlled south. Kurds refer to Kirkuk as
the "Kurdish Jerusalem," and control of the area's
oil resources and its cultural attachment to
Kurdistan have been hotly contested.
The city's Arabs are generally in favor of continued
rule by Iraq's central government in Baghdad, while
many Kurds want Kirkuk to join the Kurdistan zone to
its north. The city's minority Turkomen — ethnic
Turks — have said they prefer to stay under
Baghdad's control, but would lobby for their own
autonomous region if Kirkuk ends up being part of
Kurdistan.
Kirkuk also has significant minorities of
Christians, Armenians and Assyrians.
The last census was conducted in Kirkuk before
Saddam's Baath Party took power in 1968. At the
time, the city had a majority Kurdish population.
But tens of thousands of Kurds and non-Arabs fled
Kirkuk in the 1980s and 1990s when Saddam's
government implemented its "Arabization" policy.
They were replaced by pro-government Arabs from the
mainly Shiite south, after Saddam accused the Kurds
of siding with Iran in the 1980-1988 war with
Tehran.
Now, the Iraqi government has begun resettling some
of those Arabs to their home regions, making room
for thousands of Kurds who have gradually returned
to Kirkuk since Saddam's ouster.
The plan is said to be voluntary, and Arabs who
agree are paid US$15,500 and given a piece of
property in their regions of origin.
Some Arab lawmakers in Baghdad initially opposed the
resettlement program, out of fear that Kirkuk would
revert to Kurdish control. Iraq's parliament
scheduled a debate over the plan this past
September, but it was delayed indefinitely.
About 1,000 Arab families have received compensation
so far, according to Kaka Ritsh, a Kurdish official
who works on resettlement issues in Kirkuk. Another
3,500 families have had signed up for the program
and are willing to go back to their home regions, he
said Saturday.
Other Iraqi officials expressed frustration Saturday
at the delays over Kirkuk.
"Four years have passed, and the referendum should
have been done by now, but successive governments
have done nothing," Othman said. "Yet we do
understand that there were obstacles, such as
security challenges and bureaucracy."
www.ekurd.net
Qadir Aziz, a spokesman for Kurdistan president
Massoud Barzani, said the delay "is not to the
Kurds' benefit."
The head of the Kirkuk city council on Saturday
accused the central government of intentionally
stalling the process, saying Baghdad's
Arab-dominated government stood to gain from the
delay.
"The Iraqi government and parliament should have
thought about these problems related to Article 140
before approving it," said city council chief Rizqar
Ali. "It's too late now for them to say it's
difficult to perform the referendum by its fixed
date."
Another diplomatic force influencing Kirkuk's
destiny could be Turkey, which is currently mired in
a standoff with Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels along
Iraq's Kurdistan border 'northern Iraq'. Tension is
growing in Turkey over separatist Kurdish PKK
guerrillas, and the Turkish military is preparing
for a possible cross-border offensive against rebel
bases in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq'.
www.ekurd.net
Turkey has warned Iraq against allowing Kirkuk to
leave the central government's control, fearing its
own Kurdish population might seek autonomy. Turkey
is also worried about the fate of Kirkuk's Turkomen,
or ethnic Turks.
Yahya Barazanji contributed to this story from
Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.
AP
Kirkuk city is a
Kurdish 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, the population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad.
www.ekurd.net
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
over 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
Based on Iraq's Constitution 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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