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Turkish foreign minister visits disputed
Iraq city of Kirkuk
2.8.2012
By Ekurd.net staff writers |
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (L)
receives a souvenir from the governor of Kirkuk Najmaldin Karim, in the disputed northern Iraqi
city of Kirkuk, on August 2, 2012, during a rare
visit by a high-ranking Turkish official to the
city. His visit comes a day after Davutoglu visited
Kurdistan and met Kurdistan president, Massoud
Barzani, for talks that focused on the conflict in
Syria, and at a time of notably cool relations
between Baghdad and Ankara.
Photo: Getty Images
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August 2, 2012
KIRKUK, Iraq's border with Kurdistan region,
— Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on
Thursday visited the disputed north Iraq city of
Kirkuk, which is controlled by Baghdad but also
claimed by the autonomous Kurdistan region.
His visit comes a day after Davutoglu visited
Kurdistan and met the region's president, Massoud
Barzani, for talks that focused on the conflict in
Syria, and at a time of notably cool relations
between Baghdad and Ankara.
Davutoglu met Kirkuk province officials during a
rare visit by a high-ranking Turkish official to the
city amid tight security, according to an AFP
journalist.
"We see Kirkuk as rich in its resources and
diversity, so it will be one of the leading cities
in the Middle East, and we as Turks are ready to
serve Kirkuk and Iraq," Davutoglu told journalists.
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,www.ekurd.net 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.
Relations between Iraq and Turkey have been chilly
of late, with disputes over issues including
Kurdistan exporting oil without Baghdad's approval
to its neighbour to the north.
Davutoglu
met Barzani on
Wednesday.
"The situation in Syria is dangerous and
catastrophic, and the behaviour of the Syrian regime
and its policies of creating a sectarian and ethnic
conflict are on the rise, and developments in Syria
represent a threat to regional stability and
security," a statement on the meeting on Barzani's
website said.
The two sides agreed to cooperate on efforts "to
help the Syrian people to achieve their legitimate
aspirations for a free and diverse democratic
Syria," it said.
It also said that "we will look into any attempt to
exploit the gap in power by any extremist group or
organisation, and something like this represents a
future threat and should be solved by mutual
coordination.
"The new Syria should be free of extremist and
terrorist groups and organisations."
Turkey has expressed concern about the possible
presence in Syria of groups including Al-Qaeda and
Turkish foe the Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK.
The PKK has several times proposed peaceful solutions regarding Kurdish problem,
Turkey has always refused saying that it will not negotiate with “terrorists”.
Since it was established in 1984, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish state,
which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to establish a Kurdish
state in the south east of the country.
But now its aim is the creation an autonomous region and more cultural rights
for ethnic Kurds who constitute the greatest minority in Turkey, numbering more
than 20 million.
A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK
rebels.
The PKK wants constitutional recognition for the Kurds, regional
self-governance and Kurdish-language education in schools.
PKK's demands included releasing PKK detainees, lifting the ban on education in
Kurdish, paving the way for an autonomous democrat Kurdish system within Turkey,
reducing pressure on the detained PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, stopping military action
against the Kurdish party and recomposing the Turkish constitution.
Turkey refuses to recognize its Kurdish population
as a distinct minority. It has allowed some cultural
rights such as limited broadcasts in the Kurdish
language and private Kurdish language courses with
the prodding of the European Union, but Kurdish
politicians say the measures fall short of their
expectations.
The PKK is considered ass 'terrorist' organization by
Ankara, U.S., the PKK continues to be on the
blacklist list in EU despite court ruling which
overturned a decision
to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its
political wing on the European Union's terror list.
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