Kurdistan Parliament committee, KRG ministers discuss Kirkuk, Sinjar situations

One official said after the meeting that Erbil would work with the UN and Baghdad to implement the Sinjar Agreement.

Mustafa Shilani 2020/11/09 21:05

middle east Kurdistan Iraq KRG Sinjar disputed territories

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Interior Minister Rebar Ahmed on Monday said that the regional government will work with the United Nations and the federal government of Iraq on a mechanism to implement the Sinjar (Shingal) Agreement.

The statement came during a meeting with the Kurdistan Region parliament’s disputed territories committee on Monday, also attended by Minister of Negotiations with Baghdad Khalid Shwani.

"We have provided clarifications to the Kurdistan Regional Parliamentary Committee on Disputed Territories,” Ahmed said in a press conference following the meeting, noting they had agreed on “demands for the implementation of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution.”

The meeting also emphasized the importance of “joint efforts to form a special committee regarding the implementation of Article 140, and that part of Kurdistan Regional Government’s plan is to ask Baghdad to reactivate the Article 140 Committee, to implement it as per the constitution.”

“Soon, the Kurdistan Region delegation will have a meeting with the Iraqi government delegation to discuss further the situation in Kirkuk and other disputed territories between Erbil and Baghdad,” Ahmed added.

According to Article 140, the fate of the territories disputed between Erbil and Baghdad requires a referendum to be held in the contested areas to allow people to decide whether they want to be governed by the KRG or the Iraqi federal government.

However, although the voting deadline passed over a decade ago, no such referendum has taken place.

Minister Ahmed confirmed that KRG will coordinate with the representative of the United Nations and the Iraqi government on mechanisms of implementing the Shingal normalization agreement.

Early October, Baghdad in Erbil announced that they had reached an agreement on a new security plan in Sinjar, with announcements making particular mention of the need to reign in competing armed groups.

The Interior Minister claimed that the parties opposing the agreement are the same ones that impede the return of the IDPs, the reconstruction of Shingal, and the restoration of security and stability in it.

Editing by Khrush Najari