Fahmi Burhan: It is Important to Keep Kirkuk's Kurdistani Identity

Kurdistan 12:59 PM - 2024-11-10

Fahmi Burhan, Chairman of the General Board for Kurdistani Areas Outside the Region.

The Chairman of the General Board for Kurdistani Areas Outside the Region urged displaced individuals from Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, Duz, and Dibis to return to their locales during the national census to preserve the Kurdish identity of these regions.

The national census in Iraq is set for November 20, 2024, and both Kirkuk and the Kurdish territories outside the Kurdistan Region hold significant implications for the Kurds, as for almost seventy-five years, the Iraqi government has endeavoured to alter the demographics and geography of Kirkuk and its surrounding areas, peaking during the tenure of the defunct Ba'ath regime.

Statistics achieve some of our goals

Fahmi Burhan, Chairman of the General Board for Kurdistani Areas Outside the Region, told a press conference on Sunday, November 10, 2024: "Our goal was to carry out the census once a portion of the principles outlined in Article 140 had been implemented and a more favourable political climate than the current one had been established, thereby facilitating the census at that juncture, as Article 140 remains unimplemented, the disputed areas have not normalised, and numerous displaced individuals from Sinjar, Khanaqin, and Kirkuk continue to reside in Kurdistan without returning to their homes." 

Adding: "Our data indicates that fewer than 80 percent of the Iraqi population has obtained their national cards. All citizens should have obtained national cards prior to the census."

“I call on the displaced persons from Kirkuk, Khanaqin, Sinjar, Duz and Dibis to return to their areas during the census. As the Kurdistan Regional Government, we have a program to facilitate their return, he added.

Furthermore, he stated, "We do not oppose the census and deem it essential to carry it out, as it will fulfil certain aspirations and objectives of all four parts of Kurdistan; however, due to unresolved issues, we believe it should be postponed."

Curfew will be announced on census days 

Shwan Jabar, Head of Statistics and Census Operations in the Kurdistan Region, said: "We have done what we can to conduct the census. Another part of the task falls on the channels and journalists to spread awareness about the importance of the census.

He added: "The second phase of the general population census will begin on November 16, 2024, and will continue for four days. Our teams will visit your homes and all family members must register their names and for those four days it's okay for a member of the family to be absent as long as their documentation is proved."

" However, on November 20-21, our teams will visit your homes again to confirm the information and all family members must be present." he said.  

Adding: "Post-registration, the information is immutable, and no further registrations are permitted. Subsequently, the teams will revisit the residences until December 10, 2024, at which point the procedure will conclude."

Kirkuk, Sinjar, Duz, and Dibis are part of the areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad. Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution was largely drafted to address the issue of the disputed areas. The disputed areas stretch across the provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh, and Saladin, where the former Iraqi Ba'ath regime made great efforts to Arabise the population, which was the cause of these disputes.

In a historic appeal on February 9, 2004, attended by members of the Iraqi Governing Council in Kirkuk, President Mam Jalal reaffirmed the Kurdish identity of Kirkuk with a map of the Ottoman period. The participation of Kirkukis in the 2024 census is a completion of Mam Jalal's historic appeal. 



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