|
Delayed application of article 140 is only
for once
21.12.2007
|
|
|
|
December
21, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
The Iraqi Kurdistan parliament will meet soon to
debate the extension of article 140 of the
constitution as proposed by the envoy of the UN
Secretary General, said Speaker Adnan Mufti,
stressing that the deadline for applying this
article will "be only for once."
"Article 140 is neither discussable nor changeable,
and it is the minimum of the Kurdish people's
demands. Everyone has to understand that these
matters are not always subject to delay," said Mufti
in statements on Thursday and published by the Iraqi
Kurdistan region's government web site on Friday.
According to article 140 of the Iraqi constitution,
the problem of disputed oil-rich Kurdish province of
Kirkuk should be solved over three phases,www.ekurd.net
the first of which would
be normalization through the return of the relocated
Kurds to their original homes versus the return of
the Arabs to their previous areas. |
Dr Adnan Mufti, Iraqi Kurdistan parliament speaker |
This step should be followed by a census to be
followed by a referendum on the fate of Kirkuk, 250
km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, on
whether it should remain as an independent province
or be annexed to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan
region.
These steps were to end in a period until December
31, 2007 as maximum, but an ad hoc committee said a
couple of weeks ago that it would need time to end
these phases.
Most of the parliamentary blocs, save the Kurdistan
Coalition (KC), the second largest with 55 out of a
total 275 seats in the Iraqi parliament, insist on
delaying the application of this article.
"From our point of view, Kirkuk has always been
Kurdish, historically and geographically," stressed
Mufti, underlining the importance of respecting the
will of Kirkuk's inhabitants if they desired to have
their city as an independent province.
Kirkuk city is a
Kurdish city
and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region,www.ekurd.net
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.
VOI
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the content of news
information on this page
|
® 