Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurds plan referendum for independence
Written by : Mohamed Abdel Fattah
Jul 12, 2014
Massoud Barzani , the president of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq,has asked the region's parliament to form a committee to organize a referendum on independence.
“I cannot fix a date right now but it’s a question of months,” Barzani said about a referendum, adding it was up to the Kurdish parliament to decide on the date.
"Iraq is effectively partitioned now; should we stay in this tragic situation that Iraq is living? Of course, we are all with our Arab and Sunni brothers together in this crisis, but that doesn't mean that we will abandon our goal," he said.
“I have said many times that independence is a natural right of the people of Kurdistan. All these developments (in Iraq) reaffirm that, and from now on we will not hide that the goal of Kurdistan is independence,” he told the BBC.
The US has urged Barzani to stick with Baghdad, though the Kurdish leader said during a meeting last month with the US secretary of state, John Kerry [Unlink], that it was "very difficult" to imagine Iraq staying together.
Barzani said that an independent Kurdistan would be a threat to no one: “We will have the best of relations with all the neighbors and we will not be a threat to anyone at all, I’m sure.”
Iraq's five million Kurds, who have ruled themselves within Iraq in relative peace since the 1990s, have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent in recent weeks as a Sunni-led rebellion seized vast stretches of western and northern Iraq.
The three province Kurdistan Region , Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok which achieved autonomy from Iraq effectively in 2003.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISISL) , the Sunni extremist group that has seized large swaths of Iraq's north and west in recent weeks and seeks to create an Islamic territory across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
ISIS militants last week captured and temporarily held an Iraqi post on the Jordan border, a crossing that is roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Saudi territory.
Last week, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate ruled by Shariah law in the land it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Saudi Arabia, who shares an 800km long border with Iraq sent 30,000 troops to guard its border after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reported that the death toll for June, in all of Iraq except Anbar province, was 2,417 people, three times more than the 799 killed in May, before the insurgents began their advance. Most of those killed in June 1,500 were civilians.
Iraq’s central government in Baghdad said any referendum the Kurds may hold, whether to determine the future of the city of Kirkuk and its nearby oil fields or to declare independence for the Kurdish region itself, would be unlawful.
Iraq's Oil Ministry said Friday Kurdish Peshmerga forces had seized control of production facilities at two key oil fields near the northern city of Kirkuk.
Kurds increased their control over oil resources in the north of the country after deploying armed forces to the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan oilfields and and expelled employees of Iraq's central-government controlled North Oil Company.
Kurdish armed forces moved last month outside their region in northern Iraq and occupied the long-disputed territory around Kirkuk after the Iraqi army fled from Islamist militants.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which governs a largely autonomous region in northern Iraq,has built the pipeline in recent years, without Baghdad’s assent, but had not put it to use.
The KRG said the production from its newly-acquired oil fields would be used primarily to fill domestic demand.
Sources
Guardian.
Al Aljazeera.
Rudaw
Jul 12, 2014
Massoud Barzani , the president of the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq,has asked the region's parliament to form a committee to organize a referendum on independence.
“I cannot fix a date right now but it’s a question of months,” Barzani said about a referendum, adding it was up to the Kurdish parliament to decide on the date.
"Iraq is effectively partitioned now; should we stay in this tragic situation that Iraq is living? Of course, we are all with our Arab and Sunni brothers together in this crisis, but that doesn't mean that we will abandon our goal," he said.
“I have said many times that independence is a natural right of the people of Kurdistan. All these developments (in Iraq) reaffirm that, and from now on we will not hide that the goal of Kurdistan is independence,” he told the BBC.
The US has urged Barzani to stick with Baghdad, though the Kurdish leader said during a meeting last month with the US secretary of state, John Kerry [Unlink], that it was "very difficult" to imagine Iraq staying together.
Barzani said that an independent Kurdistan would be a threat to no one: “We will have the best of relations with all the neighbors and we will not be a threat to anyone at all, I’m sure.”
Iraq's five million Kurds, who have ruled themselves within Iraq in relative peace since the 1990s, have expanded their territory by up to 40 percent in recent weeks as a Sunni-led rebellion seized vast stretches of western and northern Iraq.
The three province Kurdistan Region , Erbil, Sulaimani and Duhok which achieved autonomy from Iraq effectively in 2003.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISISL) , the Sunni extremist group that has seized large swaths of Iraq's north and west in recent weeks and seeks to create an Islamic territory across both sides of the Syria-Iraq border.
ISIS militants last week captured and temporarily held an Iraqi post on the Jordan border, a crossing that is roughly 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Saudi territory.
Last week, the group declared the establishment of a caliphate ruled by Shariah law in the land it controls in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Saudi Arabia, who shares an 800km long border with Iraq sent 30,000 troops to guard its border after Iraqi soldiers withdrew from the area.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reported that the death toll for June, in all of Iraq except Anbar province, was 2,417 people, three times more than the 799 killed in May, before the insurgents began their advance. Most of those killed in June 1,500 were civilians.
Iraq’s central government in Baghdad said any referendum the Kurds may hold, whether to determine the future of the city of Kirkuk and its nearby oil fields or to declare independence for the Kurdish region itself, would be unlawful.
Iraq's Oil Ministry said Friday Kurdish Peshmerga forces had seized control of production facilities at two key oil fields near the northern city of Kirkuk.
Kurds increased their control over oil resources in the north of the country after deploying armed forces to the Kirkuk and Bai Hassan oilfields and and expelled employees of Iraq's central-government controlled North Oil Company.
Kurdish armed forces moved last month outside their region in northern Iraq and occupied the long-disputed territory around Kirkuk after the Iraqi army fled from Islamist militants.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which governs a largely autonomous region in northern Iraq,has built the pipeline in recent years, without Baghdad’s assent, but had not put it to use.
The KRG said the production from its newly-acquired oil fields would be used primarily to fill domestic demand.
Sources
Guardian.
Al Aljazeera.
Rudaw
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