|
No Budget For Iraqi National Census
27.1.2012
|
|
|
|
January 27, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — No money has been
allocated for any kind of population survey in the
2012 budget complains Kurdish politician Shorish
Haji. A census is one of the three steps to
resolving the disputed territories in Nineveh,
Diuyala, Salahaddin and Kirkuk set out in Article
140 of the constitution.
With no allocated spending Haji is convinced this
means another year will pass with no resolution to
the disputed territories. Haji is leader of the
Kurdish opposition party Gorran [Change] Movement
delegates to the Council of Representatives.
"We have much to say about the budget bill which,
just like the previous regime, has been drafted to
consolidate the power of the central government,"
Haji said at a press conference in Sulaimaniyah on
Wednesday. "This is against federalism and the
philosophy of the Iraqi constitution because it has
not given room for the regions and provinces."
The disputed territories have been fought over by
Kurdish, Arab and Turkmen political parties since
the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. Historically
many of the disputed territories like Kirkuk were
Kurdish cities. Hussein conducted a policy of
Arabization,www.ekurd.net
killing and forcibly evicting Kurdish and
transporting Arab families in from the south to
replace them.
This policy made the ethnic make up of cities like
Kirkuk much more mixed. Kirkuk oil wealth is
considerable, neither Kurds nor Arabs want to
relinquish control of Kirkuk for fear of losing out
on the fortune in hydrocarbons under the soil.
Article 140 stipulates that the disputed territories
must be resolved by moving evicted families back to
their homes, taking a census and holding a
referendum on whether Baghdad or Erbil should
control Kirkuk.
Article 140 states this three step process must be
carried out by the end of 2007.
The disputed territories have witnessed a lot of
bloodshed over the past four years, a reason given
by Baghdad for why article 140 has not yet been
carried out.
Haji believes the Iraqi government should conduct
the census regardless of how unstable the security
situation is "because the census will settle many
issues in Iraq and designing any plan without a
survey is inappropriate."
The budget does not go to fixing other woes says
Haji, who noted the outlook for the economy is not
clear. "We don't know the economic future of Iraq,"
he said. "There is little attention to private
sector and investment and the authority to spend and
invest is allotted to the ministries instead of
Provinces."
As for the budget of Kurdistan, Haji said so far
Kurdistan Region's allocation from the national
budget is stable at 17%.
The proposed budget stands at $100 billion USD (117
trillion IQD) with a deficit of $13.5 billion USD
(16 trillion IQD).
The compensation for families evicted by Saddam's
Arabization policy are insufficient Haji added. "In
a meeting the Iraqi Finance Minister told us that
only 52 billion IQD ($45 million USD) have been
allotted to compensate the families which is
sufficient for only 5,000 families. The total number
of the families to be compensated reaches almost
650,000 in Kurdistan Region alone."
Reports estimate each family will be given 10
million IQD ($8,500 USD).
The oil-rich province of Kirkuk is one of the most disputed areas by the
regional government and the Iraqi government in Baghdad.
The Kurds are seeking to integrate the province into the semi-autonomous
Kurdistan Region clamming it to be historically a Kurdish city, 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, 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.
Aknews part of this article by Dilsahd Saifaddin
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
aknews.com | ekurd.net
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
®
