Iraqi Kurdistan welcomes UNAMI officials

ERBIL, Iraq, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The vice president of the Kurdistan National Assembly welcomed U.N. officials to Erbil to discuss disputed Kurdish territories in Iraq.

Kurdish Parliament Vice President Kamal Kirkuki welcomed Mark Rutgers, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq station in Erbil, to discuss implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution, the Kurdish Parliament said.

In an effort to alter the demographics of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched a campaign in the late 1980s to drive Kurdish, Assyrian and Turkomen families from the region. Article 140 considers whether enough Kurds have returned to the area to consider it Kurdish.

The areas under consideration include parts, if not all, of the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Mosul and Salah ad Din.

Kirkuki told the UNAMI delegation that not implementing Article 140 violated the principles of a democratic Iraq. Failure to commit to Article 140, he added, only made the relationship with Baghdad "more complex," the Parliament statement said.

The people of Iraqi Kurdistan play a vital role in Iraq, the vice president said, and the democratic ideals in the country should support all of its people.