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Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the Kirkuk until the situation stabilises

Kirkuk - (KDP.info) - Nechirvan Barzani, Vice President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, yesterday said the peshmerga forces will not return to the Kurdistan Region until the situation in Kirkuk returns to normality. His statement followed threats by some groups and Arab organisations in Kirkuk against the Kurdish people, government and party institutions in the city. The peshmerga were sent to Kirkuk to protect all its citizens, without distinction, following violent demonstrations and vandalism by groups carrying Saddam Hussein’s picture and waving the old flag of Iraq that symbolised his rule. A delegation from the Kurdistan leadership that included Mr Barzani and representatives of all the Kurdish political parties, under the supervision of Kosrat Rasul Ali, deputy secretary of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, visited Kirkuk where they held a meeting. After the meeting, Mr Barzani told the press, “Under the supervision of Kosrat Rasul Ali, we had a joint meeting today with all the parties to discuss the situation in Kirkuk in the past few days. We consolidated our position in order to face any problems that may occur in this city.” Regarding the withdrawal of peshmerga troops, Mr Barzani said, “Until the situation stabilises in Kirkuk, the peshmerga forces will not come back [to the Kurdistan Region]. The peshmerga forces did not come here to sabotage the situation, but came to fix it and to protect Kirkuk.” He added, “In our meeting, we also dealt with the issue of public services and the criticisms of our citizens about the administration of the city. We decided to form a committee of all the Kurdistani parties to try to make the necessary changes as soon as possible.” Mr Barzani said, “We need to eliminate the problems there are today and to work towards preventing those problems in the future. The implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which was voted on and agreed by the people of Iraq, is needed to resolve existing problems.” Mr Barzani said city officials had the authority to carry out the changes to improve services. At the end of the press conference Mr Barzani thanked all the citizens of Kirkuk. He also thanked the security officials who had an effective role in the city. Kirkuk was ‘arabised’ by the Baathist regime, a brutal process in which Kurdish families were expelled from their homes and replaced by Arabs brought in especially for that purpose. The Iraqi constitution’s Article 140 stipulates a mechanism to redress the geographic and demographic changes imposed on Kirkuk and to give the population a referendum on whether to be part of the Kurdistan Region.
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A delegation from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Foreign Relations Office.


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President Masoud Barzani received Ambassador of Italy to Iraq