Thursday, May 03, 2007
KRG wants peaceful resolution to Kirkuk issue
Politics
(Kurdish Globe) - Kurdistan Region's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said that his government wants to retain Kirkuk peacefully, and urged Turkey to respect "the will of the Iraqi people," warning of the consequences of military action by the Turkish army inside Kurdistan Region's territory. While speaking to the pan-Arab al-Sharaq al-Awsat newspaper, Prime Minister Barzani said, "We reiterate that Kirkuk is an Iraqi city with a Kurdistani identity and we have a roadmap to resolve this issue," referring to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.
"Our slogan is that we want to rectify what has been forcefully done to Kirkuk and return Kirkuk to its natural position according to the Iraqi constitution and law in a peaceful way," said Barzani in an interview that was published last saturday.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution has laid out three major steps to resolve the dispute over the fate of Kirkuk. The first step is the return of Kurdish and Turkoman refugees to Kirkuk and the compensation of Arab settlers, brought to the city by Saddam Hussein's regime, who go back to their original areas in the southern and central parts of the country. The other two steps include a census to determine the population of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk to be followed by a referendum scheduled for the end of this year on whether Kirkuk should be part of Kurdistan or not.
Asked if his government would resort to military force to retain Kirkuk should the constitutional process fail, Barzani responded, "We don't want to and don't like to discuss this issue in this way. The important thing here is that there is a problem, and if one of the parties thinks that by taking the benefit of time and delaying the steps (of resolving the issue) the problem will be forgotten, then it is wrong. Any delay in resolving that issue will further deepen it and delaying it for any single day will further complicate the matter."
"Our slogan is that we want to rectify what has been forcefully done to Kirkuk and return Kirkuk to its natural position according to the Iraqi constitution and law in a peaceful way," said Barzani in an interview that was published last saturday.
Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution has laid out three major steps to resolve the dispute over the fate of Kirkuk. The first step is the return of Kurdish and Turkoman refugees to Kirkuk and the compensation of Arab settlers, brought to the city by Saddam Hussein's regime, who go back to their original areas in the southern and central parts of the country. The other two steps include a census to determine the population of the oil-rich province of Kirkuk to be followed by a referendum scheduled for the end of this year on whether Kirkuk should be part of Kurdistan or not.
Asked if his government would resort to military force to retain Kirkuk should the constitutional process fail, Barzani responded, "We don't want to and don't like to discuss this issue in this way. The important thing here is that there is a problem, and if one of the parties thinks that by taking the benefit of time and delaying the steps (of resolving the issue) the problem will be forgotten, then it is wrong. Any delay in resolving that issue will further deepen it and delaying it for any single day will further complicate the matter."
Labels: Article 140, Kirkuk, KRG, Nechirvan Barzani, Turkey
