By Savas Noredin
24 august 2005- Copenhagen
-Conflicts on the new constitution draft of Iraq continues. The constitution draft of 153 articles gives a hint how the Kurds invading Kirkuk whith kurdisation policy in Iraq. According to this draft, the Turkmens are the most vulnerable ethnic groupe.
Although it is admitted in the draft that Iraq is consisting of different religions, sects and nations; only Kurdish and Arabic are stated as official languages. It is also considered that Islam is the main source of the legislation. Besides, the special statutes of Kerkuk and Baghdad ends which means a path to include them in the ferderal regions. The draft guarantees de facto circumstances formed by Kurds and lays the groundwork for a federal structure in Iraq.
58 articles linked with one another and paragraph (a) of article 53 of the Transitional Administrative Law of Iraq remain same in the constitution draft. With the article 149 related to the Turkmens and Turkmeneli region, Kurds' returning and settling down to Kerkuk is legitimized. The offical papers of Kirkuk municipality also shows that the population of the city is increased from 870 thousand to over one million since 2003. which shows the demographic change from 60% Turkmen populated Kirkuk to over 60% Kurdish. Therefore Kerkuk is indirectly included to the formation in north. And yet, with the article 152, the Kurdish formation whose borders are determined on March 19, 2003 is formally recognized. Duhok, Erbil and Suleymaniye take place in the Kurdish federation thereby.
It is also stated in the draft that a referendum will be held for the approval of the people living in Kerkuk and the conflicting areas not later than December 31, 2007 .
Even though the draft allows Turkmens to use their own language in the regions where they mainly live, choosing Turkmen language as an additional official language in these regions is bound on a referendum.
In such case Turkmens become assimilated in Iraq of which they were one of the the founders and to date they defended the territorial integrity thereof. After 2007, it seems impossible to mention about neither Turkmens nor Turkmeneli which such ethnic erase policy can’t be accepted.
savasn@gmail.com
