Baghdad - Kurds will not use force to reassert their rights in the northern city
of Kirkuk but want immediate implementation of a constitutional article to
normalize the situation in the city, their leader said on Sunday.
Kurds took part in elections and the political process and voted for a permanent
Iraqi constitution in order to to preserve their national and political rights,'
the president of the northern Kurdish Autonomous Region, Masud Barzani.
Speaking at the opening of the conference of the Iraqi Kurdistan students' union
in Arbil, Barzani said the implementation of article 140 of the constitution has
been held up by stalling, procastrination and foreign threats.
'But we will not accept any delay in its implementation for even a minute based
on a political decision,' Barzani said.
However, he hinted at the possibility of delaying implementation on technical
grounds for a brief period. But only the parliament of the Kurdish Autonomous
Region would be empowered to endorse such a delay.
The future of the northern city of Kirkuk, which is seen as a microcosm of Iraq
with its mix of several ethnicities, is a bone of contention between Kurds on
the one hand and Turkmen and Sunni Arabs on the other.
The city has seen a surge in violence since the implementation of Iraq's new
constitution in which the still-unenforced contentious article 140 outlines a
three-step plan to reverse the Arabization policy of Saddam's regime. This
policy was part of Saddam's campaign to push out the Kurds.
The constitution also provides for a census followed by a referendum to decide
the future of the city to which the Turkmen and Arab populations are opposed.
Kurds, however, support it as it is likely to pave the way for the city to be
integrated into the Autonomous Kurdish Region.
