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Erbil, Aug. 11 (AKnews) – Parliament voted by a majority today to form a
committee to oversee the application of article 140 of the Iraqi
constitution to resolve territorial disputes in a number of multi-ethnic
areas. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The
article aims at ending the long dispute between Baghdad and the
northern semi-autonomous enclave of Kurdistan over the tenure of
oil-rich Kirkuk, and parts of Nineveh, Salahaddin and Diyala provinces.
KBC
deputy Shuwan Mohammed told AKnews the new committee will initially
include 38 lawmakers; seven of them Kurds and the rest from the other
Iraqi political blocs, but this number may increased at a later date.
According
to Mohammed, the new council will monitor the implementation and
effectiveness of the article – originally scheduled to be implemented in
2007 - and will operate under the auspices of the Council of Ministers.
The article sets three stages for the settling of the tenure debate.
Firstly,
the original inhabitants of the disputed areas - forced to leave under
the former regime’s demography-altering ‘Arabization’ policies – must be
returned and compensated.
The second stage is the conducting of
a population census, followed by the final stage, a referendum in which
the residents can decide whether they would like to join Kurdistan or
remain with Baghdad.
Four years after the constitutional deadline for the article, the government has not yet completed the first phase.
By Fryad Mohammed [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
committee to oversee the application of article 140 of the Iraqi
constitution to resolve territorial disputes in a number of multi-ethnic
areas. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
The
article aims at ending the long dispute between Baghdad and the
northern semi-autonomous enclave of Kurdistan over the tenure of
oil-rich Kirkuk, and parts of Nineveh, Salahaddin and Diyala provinces.
KBC
deputy Shuwan Mohammed told AKnews the new committee will initially
include 38 lawmakers; seven of them Kurds and the rest from the other
Iraqi political blocs, but this number may increased at a later date.
According
to Mohammed, the new council will monitor the implementation and
effectiveness of the article – originally scheduled to be implemented in
2007 - and will operate under the auspices of the Council of Ministers.
The article sets three stages for the settling of the tenure debate.
Firstly,
the original inhabitants of the disputed areas - forced to leave under
the former regime’s demography-altering ‘Arabization’ policies – must be
returned and compensated.
The second stage is the conducting of
a population census, followed by the final stage, a referendum in which
the residents can decide whether they would like to join Kurdistan or
remain with Baghdad.
Four years after the constitutional deadline for the article, the government has not yet completed the first phase.
By Fryad Mohammed [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
