Kemal Kerküki, vice-president of regional Kurdish Parliament in Northern Iraq, declared that only those who were registered on electoral register 50 years ago would be able to vote in Kirkuk referendum.
BAGHDAT- According to the statement of Kerküki, those who were registered on Kirkuk Birth Registration Office before the year 1957 will vote in the referendum determining the fate of Kirkuk but those registered after 1957 will not vote as per the Constitution. Kerküki denied the claims that the referendum would not be made on time.
Coming together with the leaders of Turkmen parties in Kirkuk, Kerküki claimed that 140 th article of the Constitution should be implemented in order that the problems in the city ended.
140 th article of Iraqi Constitution forsees that the status of the city should be determined by a referendum before 2007 ends. While the Kurds exert pressure so that the referendum is made at the end of the year, Ankara and Turkmens want it to be postponed. Kurds and Arabs in the city claim the referendum will not be able to be made on time due to that census of population has not been able to be performed.
HALID AL ATTIYE: ‘Referendum cannot be realized this year’
Halid Al Attiye, vice chairman of Iraqi Parliament, said Kirkuk referendum would possibly not be held this year.
Shi’i deputy Attiye, “Even if we make a law for Kirkuk referendum today, we cannot make it before technical side of law is completed. The Commission informed that it needed at least 7 months to complete it. Accordingly, holding the referendum this year does not seem possible” said.
Stating that holding the referendum in 2007 meant the breach of the Constitution, Attiye said there were not a lot of options in any way and that technical obstacles were not the only problems. Attiye, “There are still political problems. This is a sensitive issue and needs time…… There are both regional and international sides of Kirkuk issue.” added.
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