GottaDash
07-16-2008, 11:40 PM
BAGHDAD,(VOI ) — A lawmaker from the parliament's regions and provinces committee on Tuesday termed a proposal calling to adopt the 1957 census to determine the populations' proportions in the disputed city of Kirkuk as "the fairest solution."
Speaking at a press conference held in Baghdad, MP Hashim al-Taie, chief of the parliament's regions and provinces committee, said "the proposal to determine Kirkuk's population by adopting the 1957 census is the panacea that has gained the approval of most political provinces."
The lawmaker accounted to approval of such a solution to disagreements and traded accusations between Iraqi denominations over demographic changes that took place before and after 2003.
Minority Kurds, who run the largely autonomous northern Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net see Kirkuk as their ancient capital and want a constitutionally mandated referendum to be held to decide who controls the northern city.
Arabs encouraged to move there under late Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein want the multi-ethnic city to remain under central Iraqi government control and have been wary of a vote.
Arabs and Turkmen believe Kurds have stacked the city with Kurds since the downfall of Saddam in 2003 in an attempt to tip the demographic balance in their favor in any vote.
Some Arab and Turkmen lawmakers have suggested sharing power in the city evenly between Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds. But Kurdish lawmakers said the provincial election results should be used to determine who controls the city.
"Considering the 1957 census as an agreed base is the best means of resolving the stalemate over Kirkuk," Al-Taie noted.
"The 1957 census was agreed upon by various political factions and was recorded in documents with both the United Nations and the British government," the MP pointed out.
"Human geography specialists can calculate the national growth rate for denominations in Kirkuk from 1957 to date," he added, suggesting "the specialist statistical committee would pronounce 80 percent as rounded figure."
U.S. officials have described the provincial elections as one of several benchmarks,www.ekurd.net along with the reduction of violence in Baghdad and approval of a hydrocarbon resource sharing law, by which they are assessing the progress of Iraq's national government.
Many U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders say new provincial elections would produce a political balance, ease resentment of disenfranchised factions, and help stabilize security.
Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani announced the postponement of Tuesday's session after Kurdish Coalition MPs walked out in a protest against the inclusion of the draft law of provincial councils in today's session.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and 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."
The article 140 in Iraqi constitution 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.
http://www.peyamner.com/details.aspx?l=4&id=68129
Speaking at a press conference held in Baghdad, MP Hashim al-Taie, chief of the parliament's regions and provinces committee, said "the proposal to determine Kirkuk's population by adopting the 1957 census is the panacea that has gained the approval of most political provinces."
The lawmaker accounted to approval of such a solution to disagreements and traded accusations between Iraqi denominations over demographic changes that took place before and after 2003.
Minority Kurds, who run the largely autonomous northern Kurdistan region,www.ekurd.net see Kirkuk as their ancient capital and want a constitutionally mandated referendum to be held to decide who controls the northern city.
Arabs encouraged to move there under late Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein want the multi-ethnic city to remain under central Iraqi government control and have been wary of a vote.
Arabs and Turkmen believe Kurds have stacked the city with Kurds since the downfall of Saddam in 2003 in an attempt to tip the demographic balance in their favor in any vote.
Some Arab and Turkmen lawmakers have suggested sharing power in the city evenly between Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds. But Kurdish lawmakers said the provincial election results should be used to determine who controls the city.
"Considering the 1957 census as an agreed base is the best means of resolving the stalemate over Kirkuk," Al-Taie noted.
"The 1957 census was agreed upon by various political factions and was recorded in documents with both the United Nations and the British government," the MP pointed out.
"Human geography specialists can calculate the national growth rate for denominations in Kirkuk from 1957 to date," he added, suggesting "the specialist statistical committee would pronounce 80 percent as rounded figure."
U.S. officials have described the provincial elections as one of several benchmarks,www.ekurd.net along with the reduction of violence in Baghdad and approval of a hydrocarbon resource sharing law, by which they are assessing the progress of Iraq's national government.
Many U.S. officials and Iraqi leaders say new provincial elections would produce a political balance, ease resentment of disenfranchised factions, and help stabilize security.
Parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani announced the postponement of Tuesday's session after Kurdish Coalition MPs walked out in a protest against the inclusion of the draft law of provincial councils in today's session.
Kirkuk city is historically a Kurdish city and 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."
The article 140 in Iraqi constitution 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.
http://www.peyamner.com/details.aspx?l=4&id=68129