Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Assyrians oppose Kurdish attempts to annex Kirkuk
Security, Politics
(AINA) Iraqi Assyrians wrapped up a three-day meeting in İstanbul yesterday with a statement opposing Kurdish attempts to establish control over the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk. In a statement released after the meeting, the Assyrians said Kirkuk was part of Iraq, not of the Kurdish region. "The Kurdish region is not as big as claimed (by Kurds)," said group member Barem Behram. "If you look at the history, you will see that Assyrians were populating the area that is claimed to be the Kurdish region today."
Iraqi Assyrians discussed the overall situation in Iraq during their three-day meeting at the Conrad Hotel in İstanbul. The meeting was originally planned to be held in Baghdad, but the plans had to be changed after participants from other countries were denied entry visas by Iraqi authorities. The meeting was attended by some 43 participants, 17 of whom were from Iraq. The participants included US, Australian and German citizens.
Iraqi Assyrians discussed the overall situation in Iraq during their three-day meeting at the Conrad Hotel in İstanbul. The meeting was originally planned to be held in Baghdad, but the plans had to be changed after participants from other countries were denied entry visas by Iraqi authorities. The meeting was attended by some 43 participants, 17 of whom were from Iraq. The participants included US, Australian and German citizens.
COMMENT: A referendum that was scheduled to occur in July has been postponed by the Kurds and the Turks for another two years. The referendum was expected to decide whether Kirkuk will be annexed to the semi-independent Kurdish entity in the north. It is currently administrated by Baghdad. Kirkuk's population is made up of Turkomen, Arabs, Assyrians and Kurds. The first three groups are allied in that they do not want to become part of Kurdistan and believe they have as much say in the city's future as the Kurds.
The last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was conducted in 1957. That count showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in Kirkuk. That was before Saddam began his program to move Arabs to Kirkuk, followed by the Kurds moving back there since 2003. COMMENT ENDS.
Labels: Assyrians, Kirkuk, Kurdistan
