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Massoud Barzani warns Arab and Turkoman
over Kirkuk destiny
15.7.2009 |
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Kirkuk enjoys a Kurdistani identity just like Erbil
and Duhok and is part of Kurdistan
July
15, 2009
ERBIL-Hewlêr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — Kirkuk, just like any
other Kurdish city in the Kurdistan region, is a
Kurdistani city (predominantly populated by Kurds),
Barzani said.
Kirkuk is a Kurdistani city, just like any other
Kurdish city in the region and time won’t make us
forget about it,www.ekurd.net
president of Kurdistan
region, Massoud Barzani said.
Kirkuk and article 140 of the Iraqi constitution
will not fade away by the passage of time, Barzani
said, on Tuesday in a statement, addressing the Arab
and Turkomans of Iraq.
The article 140 has to be implemented even if it is
after one thousand years, he said.
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Massoud Barzani, the President of the autonomous
Kurdistan region in Iraq's north |
Barzani rejected the
proposal that Kirkuk should be divided on 4 sectors,
32% for each of the Kurdish, Arab and Turkoman
communities and 4% for the Christians, as a
solution.
“Why should the elections be held then” Barzani said
criticizing the solution.
President of the Kurdistan region stressed, in the
statement,www.ekurd.net
the Kurdish identity of
Kirkuk just like Erbil, Sulaimaniyah and Duhok
cities.
It is part of Kurdistan and all the historical and
geographical evidences prove that fact, he said.
However, Barzani promised that after the
implementation of article 140 of the Iraqi
constitution, they will “generously” share the
administrative posts of the province with the Arabs
and Turkomans.
The president also called on the Arabs and Turkomans
to listen to the historical and geographical facts
and to “stop playing around with the issue, we will
not allow you take over by deception and
self-assertion on the city.”
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution outlines a
three-stage process to resolve the disputes over
areas contested by the Kurdistan Regional Government
and the central government in Baghdad.
The Article is mainly evoked in the case of Kirkuk
province, which is the main source of tension
between Erbil and Baghdad.
Kirkuk city is historically 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,www.ekurd.net
which they call "the Kurdish
Jerusalem." Kurds see it as the rightful and
perfect capital of an autonomous Kurdistan state.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to
the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city
and other disputed areas through having back its
Kurdish inhabitants and repatriating the Arabs
relocated in the city during the former regime’s
time to their original provinces in central and
southern Iraq.
The article also calls for conducting a census to be
followed by a referendum to let the inhabitants
decide whether they would like Kirkuk to be annexed
to the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region or having
it as an independent province.
The former regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
had 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.
The last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was
conducted in 1957, well before Saddam began his
program to move Arabs to Kirkuk. That count showed
178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and
10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in the
city.
Copyright, respective
author or news agency,
aknews com | Agencies
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