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Iraqi Kurds 'ready for solution to issue
of Kirkuk'
29.3.2008
By staff
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March
29, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region 'Iraq', --
Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region would be ready to
accept an equitable political solution other than a
referendum to the controversial issue of control of
the Kurdish oil-rich Kirkuk area, a senior official
said on Friday.
"If there is any other solution (than the
referendum), the government of Kurdistan is
committed to be part of this solution,www.ekurd.net
that could be an
option," the Kurdish government's official
responsible for external relations told AFP.
"The government of Kurdistan would be ready to
accept a political agreement that would satisfy all
the parties," added Falah Mustafa Bakir. |
Falah Mustafa Bakir, Minister of Foreign Relations
in Kurdistan Regional Government |
The oil hub, 255 kilometres (158 miles) north of
Baghdad, is claimed by both Arabs and Kurds, and a
referendum to decide its fate was to have been held
last December but was delayed after UN intervention.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city
and it lies just south border of the Kurdistan
autonomous region with Iraq, 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,
which they call "the Kurdish Jerusalem.".
Kurdish leaders agreed to a six-month postponement
of the vote at the recommendation of the United
Nations.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution stipulated
that a referendum on Kirkuk be held by the end of
2007 to decide whether its oil wealth should be
integrated into the autonomous Kurdish region.
Kirkuk has been gripped by ethnic tension since the
US-led invasion of 2003, with Arab and Turkmen
residents fearful they would be marginalised if the
city were handed over to the Kurds.
Under Saddam Hussein's regime, Kirkuk was the scene
of a massive population upheaval with tens of
thousands of Kurdish residents expelled to make way
for Arab settlers.
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.
Today it has a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs,
Turkmen and Christians, and since 2003 Kurdish
politicians have encouraged Kurds to settle there.
"Kirkuk is rightfully ours, therefore we don't need
to use violence," said Bakir, who called the city
"the symbol of our oppression in the past."
"If Kirkuk is important for others, it is for
petrol. But for Kurds, it is for justice.
"Kirkuk is deep in the heart of the Kurds -- nobody
among the Kurds is ready to make a concession on
this issue," Bakir said.
"We want to recover Kirkuk peacefully by a legal
process," he said, adding that the Kurdish
authorities "have been very patient, very flexible."
He said it was in everyone's interest to resolve the
issue.
But asked if violence could erupt should the
question of Kirkuk remain unresolved Bakir replied:
"If it continues like that, unsolved, yes."
Information for this report was provided by AFP |
Agencies
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