ERBIL, Kurdistan Region- The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has sent a proposal to the Government of Iraq (GOI) to rekindle the implementation process of Article 140 to resolve the status of disputed territories.
Talks had previously been held with the two largest Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), before the capital was rocked by protests now in their third month.
Khalid Shwani, KRG’s Regional Minister for Federal Affairs, who is tasked with negotiations with the GOI, told Rudaw on Saturday that a committee has been formed between the KRG and GOI, and KRG has already presented a proposal on “two different levels”.
The committee aims to work on normalizing the “current military, security and administrative and demographic conditions of Kirkuk and other disputed territories” as well as “re-starting” the implementation of Article 140, according to Shwani.
Article 140, which hopes to settle the contended status of disputed territories in Nineveh, Diyala, Saladin and Kirkuk provinces is source of tension between the two governments, and its lack of implementation has soured Erbil-Baghdad relations in recent years.
During the Baathist period, the regime undertook an Arabization campaign, in which land was confiscated from Kurds, Turkmen and other minority groups.
The campaign largely targeted the Kurdish demography, many of whom were forcefully settled in Erbil after their homes were given to Arab families, who were given financial incentives to relocate from southern and central Iraqi provinces.
Following the fall of Saddam, Article 150 was instilled in the 2005 constitution- but has yet to be implemented.
Based on the Article 140, areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad, Arabs would be compensated and sent back to their original areas of residence, with Kurds and Turkmen given back their land, compensated, and helped to return to their homes.
This was to be followed by a referendum whereby residents would be given the opportunity to either fully join the Kurdistan Region or be ruled by Baghdad, to take place no later than 31 December 2007.
Baghdad has had full administrative and military control over Kirkuk, since October 16, 2017.
As a response to Kurdistan’s independence referendum in 2017, Iraq’s Army, backed by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) paramilitaries, invaded Kirkuk and the disputed territories, forcing the Peshmerga to retreat.
Arabs and Turkmen, the largest two minorities of the province, have called for internal discussions before the issue is taken to Baghdad.
On Saturday, the Executive Board of the Iraqi Turkmen Front met, to discuss mainly Iraq's conditions amid more than 2 months of popular protests in the South.
"If discussions about this matter are between Erbil and Baghdad, I will say it from now: they will fail. This matter has nothing to do with Baghdad. This is related to the components of Kirkuk," Arshad Salihi, head of the Turkmen Front, said following the party meeting.
"It is better if we Turkmen and Arabs reach an agreement. Then we should go to Baghdad and say, 'Here are our solutions,'" Salihi added.
Iraq’s federal court has already upheld the article, earlier in the year, as still in effect and constitutional, and called for its implementation.
The KRG and GOI recently reached an oil-for-budget agreement, whereby the KRG hands over 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the GOI in return for revenue.
The KRG have tried to capitalize on the good mood to address other outstanding issues.
Cooperation and the settling of the conditions of the disputed territories are critical for a number of reasons, including better KRG-GOI relations. Most importantly, as of late, has been the threat of ISIS rebuilding.
Due to October 16, 2017 events, Peshmerga-Iraqi Army cooperation and coordination completely broke down as the two forces fought each other. The in-fighting has led to an uptake in ISIS attacks on both Iraqi and Peshmerga forces.
