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Kurdish representatives didn't attend
conference on Kirkuk
2.2.2008
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February 2, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq', --
Kurdish politicians and parliamentarians did not
participate in the Turkmen-sponsored-conference held
earlier today in the Iraqi capital Baghdad to
discuss the controversial issue of oil-rich Kurdish
Kirkuk city, a media advisor for Kurdistan's
parliament speaker said on Saturday.
"The conference held in Baghdad on Saturday was not
attended by parliamentarians from the Kurdistan
Coalition (KC) or Kurdish politicians," Tareq Johar
said said.
"Every sect or ethnic group has the right to hold a
conference of its own to discuss their issues within
the Iraqi constitution," Johar added.
"We are waiting for the results of the conference
and then we will comment," Johar said, providing no
further details.
No comment was available from Kurdish politicians on
the conference.
The Kurdistan Coalition, led by Fuoad Maasoum, is
the second largest bloc with 55 seats in the
275-member parliament.
Earlier today, a conference was held in the Iraqi
capital to discuss Kirkuk issue with the attendance
of Iraqi members of parliament, ministers and
members of Kirkuk municipal council.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk, Kurds
seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq 's
Kurdistan region, while Sunni Arabs, Turkmen and
Shiite Arabs oppose the incorporation.
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, Christians and
Turkmen. lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds
have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to
Kirkuk,www.ekurd.net
which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem.", Kirkuk is historically a Kurdish city.
The article currently stipulates that all Arabs in
Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in
southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly
displaced residents returned to Kirkuk.
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,www.ekurd.net
but the UN mediated to
extend its time to July 2008.
Iraq 's Kurdistan region includes the provinces of
Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok. It has a Kurdish
majority population in addition to Turkmen, Arabs,
Christians and Chaldean-Assyrians, constituting one
fifth of Iraq 's 27 million population, according to
figures released by the Independent Electoral
Commission of Iraq.
VOI | Agencies
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