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| Iraq |
| Kirkuk is indivisible part of Kurdistan, says KRG premier |
| 2010-07-30 |
| KIRKUK / Aswat al-Iraq: Kurds have a clear vision that Kirkuk is an indivisible part of the Kurdistan Regional Government although others might have a different viewpoint, according to KRG Prime Minister Burham Saleh on Thursday. “Despite the fact that our Arab and Turkmen brothers oppose our view that Kirkuk is part and parcel of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, the Kurds will eventually be triumphant in finding a legal and constitutional solution that would win them their rights back,” said Saleh in a press conference during a brief visit to Kirkuk. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city and other disputed areas. Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq’s Kurdistan region, while Sunni Muslims, Turkmen and Shiites oppose the incorporation. The article currently stipulates that all Arabs in Kirkuk be returned to their original locations in southern and central Iraqi areas, and formerly displaced residents returned to Kirkuk, 250 km northeast of Baghdad. 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. These stages were supposed to end on December 31, 2007, a deadline that was later extended to six months to end on June 30 2008. |
| Posted by:Steve White |