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Kurdish official: Historical documents
prove Kirkuk was Kurdish
22.9.2007
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September
22, 2007
Kirkuk, Iraq's border with Kurdistan region,
-- Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Kamal
Kirkuki said Friday there were "historical documents
proving that Kirkuk was Kurdish." Speaking to the
media in Kirkuk, Kirkuki, who is also a Kurdish
Democratic Party leader, said he would, however,
"respect the choice of the Kirkuk residents whether
to be incorporated into the Kurdish region or stay
(as part of Iraq)."
He added that it was "not too late for implementing
article 140" of the Iraqi constitution.
Constitutional article 140 outlines a three-step
process to remove and reverse the Saddam Hussein-era
"Arabization" policy in Kirkuk. A referendum on
article 140 is scheduled for the end of 2007.
Kirkuki said that excuses in this issue were
"unacceptable" as there were "positive steps taken."
He noted that the Iraqi national unity government
did not offer proper services to the areas article
140 included, neither did the Kurdish autonomous
government. However, according to him, in case there
were signs of goodwill, article 140 could be applied
on time.
"We confirmed our position from (the upcoming
referendum) and said whoever had documents proving
his residency in the city since 1957 can have the
right to vote," Kirkuki said.
Oil-rich Kirkuk is the centre of northern Iraq's oil
industry. It is an ethnically-mixed city of Kurds,
Arabs, Christians and Turkumen.
To ensure Arab control of Kirkuk's oil fields,
successive governments in Baghdad have implemented a
policy of deliberate Arabization of the city.
The forced population movements and ethnic
registration changes continued under former executed
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, making it likely
that there was no longer an official Kurdish
majority in the city.
After the US liberation of Iraq in 2003, Kurds
sought to return to their original city, which
caused disputes among the three sects. Kurdish
parties have been pushing to make Kirkuk part of the
autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
On February 5, the governmental Committee for the
Normalization of Kirkuk decided to relocate Arabs to
their places of origin in central and southern Iraq
during the Saddam era and pay them compensation in
return.
Arabs in Kirkuk have protested against that
decision, charging that it was "a form of forced
migration."
DPA
* 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
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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