Kirkuk lawmaker wary of city's status

BAGHDAD, May 13 (UPI) -- A Kurdish lawmaker Tuesday said Baghdad is so divided over a constitutional provision concerning the legal status of Kirkuk that it won't address the issue.

Iraqi lawmakers extended by six months a December deadline to address Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution. Article 140 is a three-step process that reverses the "Arabization" of Kirkuk when Saddam Hussein tried to influence demographics in the city.

A pending census that is part of the Article 140 process will determine whether the semiautonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq can annex Kirkuk.

"I believe the political leaders do not have even the intention to raise differences on Article 140 due to the yawning gap in the leaders' views," Kurdish lawmaker Sameh al-Atroushi told Voices of Iraq Tuesday.

In related news, the Iraqi Parliament Tuesday formed a special committee to examine retracting immunity protecting some lawmakers, at the request of the Supreme Judicial Council.

"The Council demanded Parliament lift some legislators' immunity, to interrogate them regarding petitions filed by people against them," said council spokesman Abdul Sattar al-Berqdar.

The committee expects to submit its report to Parliament in two weeks.