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Kirkuk referendum needed soon, says Iraqi Kurdistan
president Massoud Barzani
9.5.2007 |
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Barzani
says 80% of Iraqis agree on constitution
May 9, 2007
BRUSSELS, -- "Kurdistan has never been part
of the problem, but we are trying to be part of the
solution," said Massoud Barzani, President of the
Autonomous Kurdistan Government in Iraq to the
Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday. MEPs
questioned him on minority rights, relations with
Turkey and the referendum plans for the contested
city of Kirkuk.
"There are two battles going on in Iraq: one against
terrorism and one between violent sectarian forces,"
said President Barzani in his introduction.
He underlined that his government was adamant to
adhere to the unity of Iraq as long as every party
respected the Iraqi Constitution, and argued that
"separation of religion and state is necessary" for
a functioning Iraqi state.. |
President of the Autonomous Kurdish Government in
Iraq, Massoud Barzani speaks with photographers
prior to talks at the EU Council building in
Brussels, Tuesday May 8, 2007 AP |
Kirkuk
On the issue of Kirkuk, a hotly contested
multiethnic city in the southern part of the Kurdish
region, Jan Wiersma (PES, NL) asked what guarantees
the Kurdish government could give for a free and
fair atmosphere for a referendum. Joost Lagendijk
(Greens/EFA, NL) also cited a report by the
International Crisis Group (ICG), which argued for a
postponement of the referendum citing the danger of
bloodshed if a vote were to happen.
Mr Barzani responded that all groups living in
Kurdistan will get to vote freely and according to
their own conscience in the referendum. He also
pointed out that 80% of Iraqis have agreed to the
Constitution, and that its Article 140 is the legal
basis for dealing with the Kirkuk question. "We need
to go ahead with a referendum, as further delays can
only destabilise the situation," he said, while
warning that "foreign intervention in this issue is
unacceptable."
American forces and PKK issues
José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP-ED, ES) asked what the
President thought of the recent votes in the United
States Congress, which called for troops to be
withdrawn from Iraq. Mr Barzani responded that a US
withdrawal would lead to "a full-fledged civil war
in Iraq," and that this would lead "the terrorists
to win and transfer their war to Europe and the US."
Finally, Cem Özdemir (Greens/EFA, DE) asked what the
government's contribution had been to talking to
Turkey on the question of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers
Party), a terrorist organisation. The President
responded that "the PKK is a political question that
cannot be solved by military means." He said he was
ready to cooperate with Turkey and take part in a
political solution to the issue.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
europa eu
**
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, its population
is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,
Turkmen.
The former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein forced
about 250,000 Kurdish residents to give up their
homes to Arabs in the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city
and the region's oil industry.
The Iraqi Constitution mandates that a referendum on
control of Kirkuk must be held by the end of this
year 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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