|
Talabani's PUK expels member for critizing
Kurdish officials who welcomed Maliki in Kirkuk
10.5.2012 |
|
|
|
Aref Qurbani, a member of the Central Media Bureau
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). Photo:
UKS
•
See Related Links
May 10, 2012
SULAIMANIYAH,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — A member of the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK has been expelled,
supposedly for his recent article against Kurdish
officials in Kirkuk.
Aref Qurbani, a member of the Central Media Bureau
of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), led by
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, was called by the
politburo Wednesday and expelled, said a source who
wished to remain anonymous.
Qurbani had written an article, which was published
by AK news, about the recent visit of the Iraqi
Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, to Kirkuk.
The piece, 'Anyone who decorated the meeting place
for Maliki in Kirkuk intended to smash Kurdish
dignity', criticized Kurdish officials of Kirkuk for
warmly welcoming the prime minister.
Qurbani also ran the Khandan Foundation and is close
to Barham Salih the deputy for PUK secretary
general.
The spokesman for the PUK could not be reached.
Maliki's meeting in the disputed Kirkuk province was
received with deep distrust and sharp criticism by
Kurds.
Maliki insisted
Tuesday that Kirkuk had an Iraqi identity during a
cabinet meet
boycotted by Kurdish ministers whose
autonomous region lays claim to the disputed city.
Maliki's remarks pointed to his opposition to
allowing Kirkuk to be incorporated into Kurdistan's
three-province northern region as Kurdish officials
have called for and Baghdad has opposed.
No Kurdish cabinet ministers attended the meeting,
apparently having been asked to stay away by the
Kurdish regional government, according to two
officials, one from the central government and the
other Kurdish, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the subject.
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,www.ekurd.net 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.
AK news part of the report by
Sarbaz Saleh
Copyright ©, respective
author or news agency,
aknews.com | ekurd.net | Agencies
Top |
Kurd Net
does not take credit for and is not responsible for the
content of news information on this page
|
®
