Kurdistan ruling partners include Kirkuk in independence referendum

Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) Kurdistan Region’s ruling parties agreed on Sunday to include the disputed province of Kirkuk in a referendum on independence from Iraq, adding to simmering tensions with the central government in Baghdad.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan held a meeting on Sunday chaired by President Masud Barzani, just one day before the anticipated, highly-divisive poll, in which they decided eventually to include oil-rich Kirkuk as a voting constituency.

At least 900.000 voters are expected in the process opposed by the central government, the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and regional powers Iran and Turkey.

Kirkuk is one of a few territories to which Baghdad and Erbil claim sovereignty. Ten days ago, the Arab-dominated Iraqi parliament decided to remove Kirkuk governor Najm al-Din Karim for his blatant support for holding the vote in the province.

Karim had stirred a political crisis when he decided in March to raise Kurdish flags side by side with iraqi ones there.

Baghdad has warned of a civil war if Erbil insists on holding the referendum in Kirkuk and other disputed territories. Kirkuk has a mixed population of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen. News reports have been recently rampant as of clashes between opponents and supporters of the vote, as well as of deportation of Arab families from the province, but local authorities insist that ife there remains normal.

Kurdistan gained actual autonomous governance based on the 2005 constitution, but is still considered a part of Iraq. The region was created in 1970 based on an agreement with the Iraqi government, ending years of conflicts.