Kurdish Parties in Kirkuk hold key meeting on upcoming census amid tensions over disputed areas
Shafaq News/On Wednesday, Kurdish political parties in Kirkuk convened in a criticalmeeting to address concerns over the upcoming census in Iraq’s disputedterritories, including Kirkuk.
The sessiontook place at the headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) thirdbranch in Kirkuk, gathering the deputy speaker of the Iraqi Parliament,Shakhwan Abdullah Ahmed, and other prominent Kurdish officials.
Discussionscentered on the implications of the census in Kirkuk and nearby disputed areas,amid worries about demographic and political impacts.
Although apress conference had been planned to discuss the meeting’s outcomes, attendeesultimately informed the media that the conference was canceled.
On November10, Fahmi Burhan, the head of the General Board for Kurdistani Areas Outsidethe Region, called on Baghdad to postpone the census until unresolved issuesbetween Erbil and Baghdad are addressed under Article 140 of the IraqiConstitution, which outlines mechanisms to resolve disputes in areas claimed byboth governments.
In a pressbriefing held in Al-Sulaymaniyah, Burhan emphasized the importance of Kurdishrepresentation in the census, particularly the inclusion of Kirkuk’s nativeKurdish residents. “We are not opposed to the census, which we see as crucialfor developmental goals in Kurdistan’s four provinces. However, the ongoingstatus of disputed areas warrants a delay,” he stated.
He alsovoiced concerns that the census might be politically motivated, potentiallyreducing Kurdistan’s geographical presence, and called on Iraqi Kurds toboycott the census scheduled for November 20–21.
Iraq’s lastcomprehensive census was conducted in 1987. A 1997 census excluded the KurdistanRegion, forcing Iraq to rely on unofficial estimates until the Ministry ofPlanning projected the population at over 42 million in 2022.
Since 2003,Kurdish authorities have sought to incorporate Kirkuk into the KurdistanRegion. Census results could affect the Kurdish share of Iraq’s federal budget,currently around 12%, and determine Kirkuk’s political alignment.
However, thegovernment plans to omit questions about ethnicity and religion in the census,igniting backlash in disputed regions where residents fear underrepresentation.The census results, while intended for economic planning, carry politicalweight in a country with deep ethnic and sectarian divides, whose third-largestglobal oil reserves raise stakes for fair wealth distribution.
