Iraq’s Kirkuk to vote in Kurdish ‘referendum’

KIRKUK / Reuters

Iraq’s oil-producing region of Kirkuk will vote in a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25, its provisional council decided, a move that could increase tension with Arab and Turkmen residents.
The ethnically mixed region is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The vote is “definitely happening” on September 25, Kirkuk Governor Najmuddin Kareem told Reuters after a majority of the provincial council voted in favour of taking part.
Only 24 of the 41 council members attended vote, with 23 voting in favour of participating in the referendum. One abstained. The remaining council members — all Arabs and Turkmen — boycotted the vote. Instead, they issued statements denouncing the vote as “unconstitutional.”
The KRG had said it was up to the local councils of Kirkuk and three other disputed regions of Iraq to decide whether to join the vote on the independence of the Kurdish region. The vote in the disputed regions would amount to deciding whether to join the KRG or remain under the jurisdiction of the Shi’ite Arab-led government in Baghdad. Baghdad says the referendum is unconstitutional.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting of his council of ministers, Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi denounced decision as “wrong”. “Issues are not handled like this,” he added. Sunni MP Mohammed al-Karbouli told Reuters that decision “would help
trigger ethnic fighting” in the region and would also “extend the life” of IS in the country.
“It’s a stark violation of the constitution and a determined move to confiscate the rights of the Arab and Turkmen in Kirkuk. The government should intervene to stop this violation,” al-Karbouli said.
The United States and Western nations fear the vote could lead to conflicts with Baghdad and neighbouring Turkey and Iran, which host sizeable Kurdish populations, diverting attention from the fight against IS militants in Iraq and Syria.
A senior Kurdish official has said Iraq’s Kurds might consider postponing the referendum in return for financial and political concessions from the central government. “Those who ask for a postponement – including Baghdad and the US and Europe and whoever – should give us a time,” Kareem said. “Why don’t they propose a date?”
Kurdish peshmerga fighters seized control of Kirkuk in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled from IS’s offensive across northern and western Iraq, preventing the region’s oil fields from falling into the hands of the militants.