Kurdish majority territories in Kirkuk seek to join KRI

Shafaq News/ The majority of the territories contested between Baghdad and Erbil in Kirkuk aspires to join the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI) and seeks a resolution to a backlog of problems the consecutive government, the Media Officer of the Kurdistan Democratic Party's Organizations Headquarters in Khanaqin, Ebrahim Hasan, said on Monday.

"The government's disregard of the constitutional article related to the disputed territories prompted the region's government to hold a referendum to emphasize the Kurds' right to decide their fate and willingness to end the accumulating problems that had serious reverberations in the areas with Kurdish majority," he told Shafaq News Agency

"The referendum initiative paved the way to end the constitutional problems and misunderstandings regarding the differences between the regional and the federal government", he said, adding, "the region and people of Kurdistan do not have to beg the government to implement the constitution in the disputed areas. The government must adhere to the (constitutional) texts. However, it has not taken any step in this regard since the constitution was written until now."

Hasan said that over 95% of the Kurdish people in the disputed areas wish to join the Regional government's areas, noting that there are no recession intentions.

He denounced "punishing the Kurdish people for standing for their rights", warning that the situation in the disputed areas is worsening due to government negligence.

An independence referendum for the Kurdistan Region was held on September 25, 2017, with preliminary results showing approximately 92.73 percent of votes cast in favor of independence.

As a result, Baghdad imposed sanctions and denounced the referendum, which was rejected by several countries, including Turkey and Iran.