AP News, November 17th, 2007
Iraq's parliament on Saturday ordered an inquiry into the delay of a referendum over whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk will join the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north.
The Iraqi constitution requires that a referendum on the future status of the city be held by the end of this year to determine whether it will remain under Baghdad's control, become part of Kurdistan or gain autonomy from both.
"Four years have passed, and the referendum should have been done by now, but successive governments have done nothing," Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman said. "Yet we do understand that there were obstacles, such as security challenges and bureaucracy."
Qadir Aziz, a spokesman for Kurdish president Massoud Barzani, said the delay "is not to the Kurds' benefit."
The head of the Kirkuk city council on Saturday accused the central government of intentionally stalling the process, saying Baghdad's Arab-dominated government stood to gain from the delay.
Kirkuk is an especially coveted city for both the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government in Baghdad and the Kurdish one in Irbil.
Much of Iraq's vast oil wealth lies under the ground in the Kirkuk region, as well as in the Shiite-controlled south. Kurds refer to Kirkuk as the "Kurdish Jerusalem," and control of the area's oil resources and its cultural attachment to Kurdistan have been hotly contested.
The city's Arabs are generally in favor of continued rule by Iraq's central government, while many Kurds want Kirkuk to join the Kurdish zone to its north. The city's minority Turkomen — ethnic Turks — have said they prefer to stay under Baghdad's control, but would lobby for their own autonomous region if Kirkuk ends up being part of Kurdistan.
Kirkuk also has significant minorities of Christians, Armenians and Assyrians.
The constitution also calls for a census to be held in Kirkuk by the end of 2007 to determine how many Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen reside in the city.
Kurds dispute the results of censuses conducted under Saddam Hussein.
Iraqi officials confirmed Saturday that the census and referendum have been postponed until next year.
Tens of thousands of Kurds and non-Arabs fled Kirkuk in the 1980s and 1990s when Saddam's government implemented its "Arabization" policy. They were replaced by pro-government Arabs from the mainly Shiite south, after Saddam accused the Kurds of siding with Iran in the 1980-1988 war with Tehran.
Now, the Iraqi government has begun resettling some of those Arabs to their home regions, making room for thousands of Kurds who have gradually returned to Kirkuk since Saddam's ouster.
The plan is said to be voluntary, and Arabs who agree are paid $15,500 and given a piece of property in their regions of origin.
About 1,000 Arab families have received compensation so far, according to Kaka Ritsh, a Kurdish official who works on resettlement issues in Kirkuk. Another 3,500 families have signed up for the program and are willing to return to their home regions, he said Saturday.
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Associated Press Writer Yahya Barazanji contributed to this report from Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.
