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Kurdistan PM Nechirvan Barzani says we
would have occupied Kirkuk if we wanted to
30.11.2007
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November
30, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region, 'Iraq', --
Iraqi Kurdistan autonomous region Prime Minister
Nechirvan Barzani says the Kurds could have occupied
the Kurdish city of Kirkuk after the fall of Saddam
Hussein in 2003 but opted not to do this. Kirkuk
lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous
region on the border with 'Iraq'.
The Iraqi Kurdistan leader said however, the Kurds
are troubled that the referendum on Kirkuk which was
supposed to be held by the end of the year is being
delayed.
Speaking at the opening of the United Nations
mission in Kurdistan's capital, Erbil, Barzani
accused the Baghdad government of delaying the
referendum.
Barzani said Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution
was designed to solve the problems of disputed areas
like Kirkuk.www.ekurd.net
He said the constitution
was approved by the Iraqi people and should now be
implemented. |
Nechirvan Barzani, Prime
Minister of
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) |
The Iraqi Kurdish leaders said as of today there are
serious delays and said the Baghdad government
should swift steps to speed up the process for the
referendum. "We could have taken over Kirkuk by
various means in 2003 when Saddam was toppled.
However, we choose to do this through peaceful means
and through the laws."
He said the Iraqi Kurds do not want Kirkuk because
of its oil. "We get 17 percent of the oil revenues
of Iraq. If we get Kirkuk this percentage will not
change."
On Thursday Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud
Barzani and
Nechirvan Barzani met with
U.S. deputy Secretary of State John
Negroponte who was very optimistic that the progress
that has occurred in security will be matched with
political progress.www.ekurd.net
The U.S. official also
urged the two to keep up the pressure against the
Turkey's PKK Kurdish rebels.
thenewanatolian com
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.
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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