MESOP LATEST : RETURN OF KIRKUK TO THE “MOTHERLAND” !? / AREF TAYFUR

Iraq’s deputy parliament speaker: Call for Kirkuk return to Kurdistan as fifth province

May 27, 2014 – shafaaq com – BAGHDAD,— Iraqi Parliament Deputy Speaker Aref Tayfur called Tuesday for the return of Kirkuk to “mother’s lap of Kurdistan”.

He demanded on Tuesday the United Nations and international organizations to recognize the demographic and geographic reality of Kirkuk province, which he described as Kurdish, indicating that the best “proof” is the Kurds getting 8 seats in the parliament, 2 for the Arabs and 2 for Turkmen and that “most of the population are Kurds”.

“It is a good proof to all who are skeptic of the Kurdish entity of Kirkuk, thus we call the UN and world organizations to recognize the situation”, he confirmed.

He noted that the victory of the Kurdish component in this democratic process is a message to those who doubt that Kirkuk is Kurdish, demanding that the United Nations and international organizations for an official recognition of the population and the geographical reality and work for the return of Kirkuk to Kurdistan.He added that this is a historic entitlement to become the fifth province within the provinces of Kurdistan region and the return of the rights to the rightful owners of the Kurds and Turkmen who have been affected by the demographic change policies and forcing people to became Arabs followed by the former regime in the Kurdish areas.

Tayfur pointed out that it is possible to address the security problems in the province if managing it has been linked to the government of Kurdistan Region. Tayfur confirmed that Kirkuk is an Iraqi city that will keep its Kurdish identity and a model of peaceful coexistence of all components of Kurds, Turkmen, Arabs, Chaldeans, Syriacs and Assyrians, stressing that the rights will be preserved for all to live in safety and peace.

The oil-rich province of Kirkuk is one of the most disputed areas by the Kurdistan regional government and the Iraqi government in Baghdad.

The Kurds are seeking to integrate the province into the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region clamming it to be historically a Kurdish city, it lies just south border of the Kurdistan autonomous region, the population is a mix of majority Kurds and minority of Arabs, Christians and Turkmen, lies 250 km northeast of Baghdad. Kurds have a strong cultural and emotional attachment to Kirkuk, which they call “The Kurdish Jerusalem.” Kurds see it as the rightful and perfect capital of an autonomous Kurdistan state.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution is related to the normalization of the situation in Kirkuk city and other disputed areas through having back its Kurdish inhabitants and repatriating the Arabs relocated in the city during the former regime’s time to their original provinces in central and southern Iraq.

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.

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 last ethnic-breakdown census in Iraq was conducted in 1957, well before Saddam began his program to move Arabs to Kirkuk. That count showed 178,000 Kurds, 48,000 Turkomen, 43,000 Arabs and 10,000 Assyrian-Chaldean Christians living in the city.