|
Kurdish Peshmarga forces didn't
cross borders of disputed areas in Diyala: Khanaqin
council
12.5.2012 |
|
|
|
May 12, 2012
DIYALA, Iraq, — The department of
Khanaqin has assured that the Kurdish Peshmarga
forces did not cross the borders of the disputed
areas in Diyala and that they are still stationed at
the outskirts of Khanaqin within joint checkpoints
with the Iraqi army.
The head of Khanaqin local council Samir Mohammed
Noor said the Peshmarga forces are performing their
security tasks outside of the cities and disputed
administrative units in Diyala. Noor denied the
existence of any incidents of provocation by the
Peshmarga or Iraqi army.
Noor added that the presence of Peshmarga forces in
Khanaqin is to protect services and facilities and
to compensate some deficiency in security, adding
that the coordination between the Peshmarga and the
Iraqi army out of the disputed city is going well
without any problems or tensions.
In media statements yesterday, Maliki accused Kurds
of expansion in the disputed areas in the provinces
of Kirkuk and Nineveh, adding that the Peshmarga
forces rushed to the territories of Kirkuk and Mosul
but they do not allow even the Iraqi army or police
to enter.
Officials in the federal government said the
Peshmarga controls 16 administrative units in the
Nineveh plain areas and their presence is even
larger than the number of Iraqi army members in
Kirkuk,www.ekurd.net
Khanaqin district and other nearby areas in Diyala
province.
Member of the security and defense committee for the
Kurdish Blocs Coalition (KBC) Hassan Jihad: "The
formation of Sahwat and joint emergency security
battalions from all nationalities in the disputed
areas will not achieve any security progress in
northern Diyala."
He renewed the invitation of the Kurds to expand the
coordination between the Iraqi army and Peshmarga in
keeping security in areas of tension in the disputed
areas.
Despite continued campaigns of displacement that
Kurds have been suffering from in Saadia and Jalawla
since late 2008, the Peshmarga forces have not
intervened effectively in these areas despite the
demands of Kurdish officials and the families that
were forced to flee to safe areas.
Diyala province, a restive part of Iraq outside the Kurdish
autonomous region of Kurdistan but home to many Kurds. The Diyala district, which includes a string of villages and
some of Iraq's oil reserves, is home to about 175,000 Kurds, most of them
Shiites.
In June 2006, the local council of Khanaqin proposed that the district be
integrated into the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.
During the Arabisation policy of Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, a large number of
Kurdish Shiites were displaced by force from Khanaqin. They started returning
after the fall of Saddam in 2003.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to the normalization of the
situation in Kirkuk city and other disputed areas like Khanaqin.
Kurdistan's government says oil-rich Khanaqin should be part of its
semi-autonomous region, which it hopes to expand in a referendum in the future.
In the meantime, Khanaqin and other so-called disputed areas remain targets of
Sunni Arab insurgents opposed to Kurdish expansion and vowing to hold onto land
seized during ex-dictator Saddam Hussein's efforts to "Arabize" the region.
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
|
®
