Monday, June 30, 2008 2:21:10 PM
Here's a real nice picture of Kirkuk and where they want to decide Census with 140...
http://www.maplandia.com/iraq/at-tamim/kirkuk/
Kirkuk is Oil rich and there might be some tensions if the people are made to vote so as to remain in Kurdistan.....
Here's a good read on the situation.........
Baghdad, May 15, (VOI) - By the beginning of next July, the extension of the extra term of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution will end, raising questions over one of the most controversial Iraqi issues.
The questions will focus on the fate of the constitutional article, which have to settle the disputes in the Iraqi ethnic areas, mainly the oil-rich Kirkuk.
Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution is related to normalization in Kirkuk, an important and mixed city of Kurds, Turcomans, Christians, Arabs, and Assyrians.
Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq’s Kurdistan region, while Sunni Muslims, Turcomans 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 in July 2008.
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 extension of the deadline flares up big controversy between Iraqi parliamentary blocs and politicians.
From the Arabs side, some voiced concern that some Iraqi regions, such as Kirkuk, could be included in Kurdistan region if the article was implemented.
“Article 140 failed by the end of 2007 because the term is part of the constitutional article and not separated from it,” MP Usama al-Nigiefi said.
“Several lawmakers, politicians, and legal experts believe that the article ended,” he underlined.
“Even the Kurdish side is convinced that the issue ended and another solution should be found,” he added.
He expressed belief that extending the deadline was ’illegal’.
“The constitutional amendments committee, which works in accordance to Article 142, is the only one which can change the article or amend it and this did not happen actually,” the legislature noted.
For his part, MP from the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) attributed the controversy to an absence of good intentions, announcing Kurd’s commitment to the article.
“Article 140 is not a problem of time but a problem of intentions,” Saadi al-Barzanji said.
“Not implementing the article contributes in the continuity of tensions and instability as Kirkuk and other disputed areas spread a state of tension since the establishment of the Iraqi state until now,” he explained.
“Honest intentions could lead to the agreement on another extension of deadline,” the Kurdish official highlighted.
“There are different suggestions regarding the article; some want to cancel it and others want to find other solutions, but the Kurdish side is sticking to it as originally worded in the Constitution,” al-Barzanji continued.
A member of the Unified Iraqi Coalition admitted that the constitutional amendments committees facing a lot of obstacles which affect its work.
He expected another extension because, according to him, it is not enough to solve all these disputes.
Raed Fahmi, the head of the committee assigned to implement Article 140, said that the article remains constitutional despite there having been a date for its implementation.
Tareq Harb, a legal expert, said that “so far the article did not complete the first stage (the normalization stage) and there are two other stages (census and referendum).”
“I think the remaining time is not enough to complete the three stages,” he asserted.
SH/SR
Aswat Aliraq
http://www.maplandia.com/iraq/at-tamim/kirkuk/
Kirkuk is Oil rich and there might be some tensions if the people are made to vote so as to remain in Kurdistan.....
Here's a good read on the situation.........
Baghdad, May 15, (VOI) - By the beginning of next July, the extension of the extra term of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution will end, raising questions over one of the most controversial Iraqi issues.
The questions will focus on the fate of the constitutional article, which have to settle the disputes in the Iraqi ethnic areas, mainly the oil-rich Kirkuk.
Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution is related to normalization in Kirkuk, an important and mixed city of Kurds, Turcomans, Christians, Arabs, and Assyrians.
Kurds seek to include the city in the autonomous Iraq’s Kurdistan region, while Sunni Muslims, Turcomans 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 in July 2008.
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 extension of the deadline flares up big controversy between Iraqi parliamentary blocs and politicians.
From the Arabs side, some voiced concern that some Iraqi regions, such as Kirkuk, could be included in Kurdistan region if the article was implemented.
“Article 140 failed by the end of 2007 because the term is part of the constitutional article and not separated from it,” MP Usama al-Nigiefi said.
“Several lawmakers, politicians, and legal experts believe that the article ended,” he underlined.
“Even the Kurdish side is convinced that the issue ended and another solution should be found,” he added.
He expressed belief that extending the deadline was ’illegal’.
“The constitutional amendments committee, which works in accordance to Article 142, is the only one which can change the article or amend it and this did not happen actually,” the legislature noted.
For his part, MP from the Kurdistan Coalition (KC) attributed the controversy to an absence of good intentions, announcing Kurd’s commitment to the article.
“Article 140 is not a problem of time but a problem of intentions,” Saadi al-Barzanji said.
“Not implementing the article contributes in the continuity of tensions and instability as Kirkuk and other disputed areas spread a state of tension since the establishment of the Iraqi state until now,” he explained.
“Honest intentions could lead to the agreement on another extension of deadline,” the Kurdish official highlighted.
“There are different suggestions regarding the article; some want to cancel it and others want to find other solutions, but the Kurdish side is sticking to it as originally worded in the Constitution,” al-Barzanji continued.
A member of the Unified Iraqi Coalition admitted that the constitutional amendments committees facing a lot of obstacles which affect its work.
He expected another extension because, according to him, it is not enough to solve all these disputes.
Raed Fahmi, the head of the committee assigned to implement Article 140, said that the article remains constitutional despite there having been a date for its implementation.
Tareq Harb, a legal expert, said that “so far the article did not complete the first stage (the normalization stage) and there are two other stages (census and referendum).”
“I think the remaining time is not enough to complete the three stages,” he asserted.
SH/SR
Aswat Aliraq
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