1st General Census meeting in Kirkuk with absence of al-Iraqiya

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: the Special Action Committee, formed by the Planning Ministry, has held its 1st meeting to discuss the problems of the forthcoming General Census in Kirkuk on Sunday, with the presence of Kirkuk legislatures, representing the Kurdistan Coalition and absence of Arab and Turkoman legislatures, to discuss the security plans and preparations by the Kirkuk Census Office for the General Census operation. The meeting, attended by Kirkuk Governor, the Chairman of the Province’s Council, the Director of Kirkuk Census, the city’s Education Office, its Census Commission, the Commander of the Army’s 12th Division, the Commander of the 1st Brigade for Kirkuk‘s Guards, as well as representatives of the Province’s Reconstruction Office and the U.S. Forces, discussed the security plans laid for the census day and the obstacles facing them. Kirkuk‘s Census officials have expressed their preparedness to carry out the Census in the Province, and Kirkuk‘s Census Director, Adnan Baba, told IraqiNews.com news agency that his office “is prepared to carry out the census in Kirkuk, after the completion of the process to prepare its cadres, who attended special courses in the field of census.” On his part, the Legislature of the Iraqi Parliament for the Kurdistan Coalition, Najmiddin Karim told IraqiNews.com that “technical and security preparations have been completed in the Province, pointing out to the confirmations by the leaders of the security forces and the Director of Kirkuk Census Office in this respect.” “The Census is not a Kurdish demand, but it is a ncessity that shall take place according to the Iraqi government’s laws, to accomplish all necessary details related to the whole country of Iraq, because the carrying out of the census shall serve the interest of the Iraqi people,” Karim said. Commenting on the absence of al-Iraqiya Coalition, led by former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, Karim said: “Their absence won’t affect the activity of the meeting, but we do hope that they would participate in the forthcoming meetings, as the Turkomen and Arabs of Kirkuk don’t support the boycott of the census process.” He called on Kirkuk Governor, being the chairman of the census committee, to “carry out his duty and raise the meeting’s decisions to the higher committees, related to the preparations of Kirkuk Province to carry out the census process.” On her part, the Iraqi Parliament’s Legislature, Aala Talabani, told IraqiNews.com that “the formation of a special committee for the census took part in response to the demands of (Kirkuk‘s) Arabs and Turkomen; that is why the absence of our colleagues from al-Iraqiya Coalition had not been a normal attitude.” “The Arab and Turkomen blocs, according to their statements, wish to participate in the census process, but al-Iraqiya legislatures, representing the Arabs and Turkomen of Kirkuk, did not attend the meeting, despite fact that they should have attended it, not as representing their own persons, but as representatives of their blocs, especially after their agreement to represent the bloc in the action committe of the census,” she said. The Letislature from al-Iraqiya Coalition, Umar al-Jibouri, had justified his bloc’s non-attendance of the said meeting, “to have taken place for reasons related to the imbalacement of the three components of Kirkuk in the census committee.” “We did not attend the meeting, because we want the Iraqi Planning Ministry to revise its ministerial order in this respect, in such a way that copes with the current laws and rules, because their presence has no relationship with the Kirkuk‘s current pending problems,” Jibouri told IraqiNews.com. Noteworthy is that the Arab and Turkomen Legislatures in Kirkuk, who are all al-Iraqiya Coalition members, have considered the mechanism of the formation of the census committee, issued according to the order,