ELECTION CRISIS IN KERKUK IS ENDED

TÜRKMENELİ TV - The Iraqi parliament passed a provincial elections law last Tuesday despite a walkout by Kurdish lawmakers over the details regarding the disputed oil-rich city of Kerkuk.

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Khalid al-Attiya said it is unlikely any provincial elections will be held this year considering the Kurdish lawmakers' protests.

Kurdish members of parliament have called for a referendum to determine who controls Kerkuk.
Other lawmakers have suggested a power-sharing agreement between the city's Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish residents - a plan that would hand more power to regions and lessen the oversight of the federal government in Baghdad.

Iraq’s parliament had failed many times to approve a draft provincial elections law on because of disagreement over what to do about voting in the disputed oil city of Kerkuk.
Arab residents in the ethnically diverse northern Iraqi city of Kerkuk, protested plans for postponement of the local elections on Tuesday.

The Iraqi parliament delayed a vote on the provincial elections law until Thursday, citing dispute over the status of Kerkuk where Turkmens, Arabs, Kurds, struggle for control over the administration.

The new local elections law was accepted by voting on the election law by one hundred and twenty-seven members of the House of Representatives out of one hundred and forty.

According to parliamentary sources, the item twenty-fourth from the law is concerned about Kerkuk province which provides the postponement of elections in the city and forming a committee comprising four members each from the three main components in Kerkuk and a member of Christians, two of key components of the Council members Deputies as representatives from the ministries of commerce, planning for supervision of the Interior and representatives from the United Nations and the Arab League for sharing civilian authorities, the executive, legislative and sovereign positions and posts in all institutions of Kerkuk, Bringing in military units from central and southern Iraq rather than military forces currently operating in Kerkuk during the Committee's work the problem with the emphasis on the exit of the armed political parties.

The demographic structure of Kerkuk, which is in fact a Turkmen city, has been systematically changed by Kurdish political parties in the area since 2003. However, this fact is being deliberately ignored by the Americans forces.

Kurds, who want to eliminate all the Turkmens from the political arena of Iraq, are doing their best to take control of the areas inhabited by Turkmens.

Their ultimate aim is to control all the oil reserves in the Mosul & Kerkuk area.

The systematic Arabisation process of the Turkmens was first started by the Iraqi government in the 1930s. This policy intensified during the reign of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein implemented this Arabisation policy especially in the Kerkuk region where the majority of the population is Turkmen. On one hand Saddam Hussein settled lots of Arabs in Kerkuk while on the other hand he forced Turkmens living in the area to move to other parts of the country.

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