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President Massoud Barzani rules out
Kurdish State
13.12.2007
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December
13, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',--
Iraqi Kurdistan president Massoud Barzani appeared
on Tuesday before cameras for the first time after
he came back from a trip abroad and assured that
Iraqi Kurds did not seek independence by pressing
for a contentious referendum on status of the
oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
"Some neighboring countries say Kurds will set up an
independent state if Article 140 [of the Iraqi
constitution that calls for the referendum] is
implemented," Barzani told a conference in Erbil,
the Iraqi Kurdistan's capital "But there is no such
thing. I am an Iraqi. I am an Iraqi citizen of
Kurdish origin," he went on.
Turkey as well as other neighbors of Iraq oppose a
referendum which was originally slated to take place
before the end of 2007.www.ekurd.net
Ankara says the vote
would not reflect the true wishes of Kirkuk's
ethnically mixed population since the demographic
composition has been altered due to an influx of
Kurdish immigrants from different parts of Iraq in
the recent years. Ankara also says oil and other
resources of Iraq should belong to entire Iraq. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous Regional
Government of Kurdistan 'Iraq' |
Barzani said the Iraqi
Kurdistan region, which currently includes three
Kurdish provinces in 'northern Iraq', would respect
any result from the referendum and insisted that the
vote would be held eventually.
"There is no such thing as cancellation of the
referendum.www.ekurd.net
Sooner or later, it will
take place. Depending on the outcome, Kirkuk would
either be part of Kurdistan region or Iraq. Kirkuk
will decide on this," he said.
Ankara fears that if the Kurdish oil-rich Kirkuk
joins Kurdistan, the Kurds will have the economic
foundation they need for an independent state,
Turkey fears this could fan separatism among its own
large Kurdish population in southeast Turkey.
The Kurdish leader also called for Iraqi authorities
to change the country's national flag, saying the
Kurds had been promised that the existing flag would
be replaced when Saddam Hussein regime was
overthrown, a pledge yet to be fulfilled.
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.
todayszaman com
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