Turkman leader: Kirkuk dispute cannot be resolved without Turkman-Kurd agreement

11/05/2012 09:17
ERBIL, May 11 (AKnews)- The key players who can resolve the territorial dispute over the oil rich Kirkuk province are Turkmans and Kurds, a Turkman party leader said.
Kerkuk , karkuk , kirkukKirkuk issue is not the problem between the Baghdad and Kurdistan Region governments, rather it is a dispute between Kurds and Turkmans, said Asam Adel, the general secretary of National Turkman Party.
The tenure of Kirkuk which rests on 40% of Iraqi oil reserves has been disputed between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region governments for a long time.
Kurds who claim a Kurdish identity for Kirkuk city (center of the province) were irritated when Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said during his visit to Kirkuk this week that Kirkuk is an Iraqi city.
There are also Turkmans in the province who claim aboriginality. Most of them support the idea of declaring Kirkuk an autonomous region within Iraqi federal state. Arabs endeavor for keeping Kirkuk within the borders of Baghdad administration by giving the province more authorities. However, Kurds refuse both options. They demand Kirkuk be annexed to Kurdistan.
Adel said if Kurds and Turkmans agreed over strategic issues and were able to build mutual trust "70% of the crisis[over Kirkuk] is over."
Kurds have laid all their hope in the enforcement of the constitutional article 140 which specifies the stages for indicating the owner of the province.
First the displaced people should be returned to their homeland and compensated, then a population census should be conducted to indicate the density of each ethnic group, and finally a public referendum will determine whether Kirkuk should be run by Baghdad or Erbil.
The article had to be completely enforced by end of 2007. However, the first stage of it is still not completed.
Adel said the issue of Kirkuk cannot be resolved by Kurds and Arabs alone. "The closest solution is bound to the agreement between Turkmans and Kurds."
National Turkish Party was founded by Iraqi Turkmans in diaspora in 1988.
The dispute over Kirkuk, to the northeast of Baghdad, as negatively affected on security situation. The province is subject to frequent armed attacks, robberies, abductions and bombings.
AKnews