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Ethnic tension rises in oil-rich Kirkuk,
the Kurdish Jerusalem
28.1.2008
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January
28 2008
Kirkuk, Iraq's border with Kurdistan region,
-- An Arab political bloc threatened Monday to
pull out of the local council of the oil-rich,
ethnically mixed Kurdish city of Kirkuk in northern
Iraq unless anti-Arab measures taken by the Kurdish
majority are stopped.
Under a power-sharing agreement with the Kurdish
Takhi List, the Iraqi Republican Grouping has six of
41 seats in the local governing council of Kirkuk as
well as the post of the deputy council chief.
'We call for the implementation of terms of the
agreement within the set timeframe, including the
release of all detainees in Kurdish prisons, an end
to raids and arrests in Arab areas and giving Arabs
their right to a joint administration (of the
city),' Ahmed Hamid Ubaydi, the grouping's leader
said.
Ubaydi, who is also the leader of the Arab Iraqi
Kirkuk Front, is calling for a suspension of the
controversial article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.
Kirkuk is one of the most sensitive political and
potentially explosive issues in Iraq. The city's
Kurdish majority see it as their capital and want to
be attached to Iraq's Kurdistan Autonomous Region
while the city's Arabs and Turkmen oppose this.
Under article 140, Arabs, who were settled in the
city under the former regime, are encouraged to
return to their original homes elsewhere in Iraq.
Kirkuk city is a Kurdish city
and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region, the population is a mix of
majority Kurds and minority of Arabs,www.ekurd.net
Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds
have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to
Kirkuk, which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem.",
Kirkuk is historically a Kurdish city.
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.
Under article 140 of Iraq’s constitution a
referendum must be held on whether the city secedes
to control of the Kurdistan region al government KRG.
A referendum, provided for in the Iraqi
constitution, was scheduled to be held by the end of
the past year on including the city into the
Kurdistan region, but the UN mediated to
extend its time to July 2008.
The Kurdish lawmaker pointed out "the regions'
residents have the right to decide their condition
through a referendum."
"There are several Turkmen leaders who support the
implementation of article 140," he noted.
The Arab grouping was examining all options,
including withdrawal from the political process,
protests and civil disobedience, Ubaydi said.
He urged the city's Kurdish political parties to
include Turkmen's powers in the power-sharing
agreement in a move,www.ekurd.net
which Arabs hope would
promote decentralization rather than annexing the
city to the autonomous region of Kurdistan.
Last year, Turkmen's parties had pulled out of the
city council where they had nine seats.
Ubaydi renewed his opposition to article 140, which
provides for Kirkuk's Arabs to be given inducements
to move out of up to 15,000 dollars each as well as
a plot of land in their place of origin.
The measure, which is voluntary, has been approved
by the Iraqi government.
DPA | Agencies
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