Baghdad - An Arab political bloc threatened Monday to pull
out of the local council of the oil-rich, ethnically mixed city of
Kirkuk in northern Iraq unless anti-Arab measures taken by the
Kurdish majority are stopped.
Under a power-sharing agreement with the Kurdish Takhi List, the
Iraqi Republican Grouping has six of 41 seats in the local governing
council of Kirkuk as well as the post of the deputy council chief.
'We call for the implementation of terms of the agreement within
the set timeframe, including the release of all detainees in Kurdish
prisons, an end to raids and arrests in Arab areas and giving Arabs
their right to a joint administration (of the city),' Ahmed Hamid
Ubaydi, the grouping's leader said.
Ubaydi, who is also the leader of the Arab Iraqi Kirkuk Front, is
calling for a suspension of the controversial article 140 of the
Iraqi constitution.
Kirkuk is one of the most sensitive political and potentially
explosive issues in Iraq. The city's Kurdish majority see it as their
capital and want to be attached to Iraq's Kurdish Autonomous Region
while the city's Arabs and Turkmen oppose this.
Under article 140, Arabs, who were settled in the city under the
former regime, are encouraged to return to their original homes
elsewhere in Iraq.
A referendum on joining the other three provinces of Iraq's
Kurdish region was to be held in 2007 but was postponed against
rising tension and violence in the city.
The Arab grouping was examining all options, including withdrawal
from the political process, protests and civil disobedience, Ubaydi
said.
He urged the city's Kurdish political parties to include Turkmen's
powers in the power-sharing agreement in a move, which Arabs hope
would promote decentralization rather than annexing the city to the
Kurdish region.
Last year, Turkmen's parties had pulled out of the city council
where they had nine seats.
Ubaydi renewed his opposition to article 140, which provides for
Kirkuk's Arabs to be given inducements to move out of up to 15,000
dollars each as well as a plot of land in their place of origin.
The measure, which is voluntary, has been approved by the Iraqi
government.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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