London, UK (KRG.org) - Bob Spink, a Conservative Member of the UK Parliament, yesterday asked Britain’s Defence Secretary if he agreed that the British government should ensure that the Kirkuk referendum takes place without outside interference.

In a House of Commons debate, Mr Spink asked Defence Secretary Des Browne, “Does he agree that we need to ensure that the Kirkuk referendum, which must take place some time this year— probably in November or December—takes place without any interference or distraction from insurgents or bordering countries, and will he do all in his power to ensure that the referendum proceeds securely?”

In his response Des Browne said that the referendum on Kirkuk should be seen as part of the overall political settlement in Iraq. He said, “The honourable Gentleman is perfectly correct to identify the importance of the referendum in Kirkuk, but it should be seen as one of a number of agreements that were made in the political context of the settlement that brought the national unity Government to power in Iraq. That is not to underestimate in any way the challenges that they face."


Bob Spink, Conservative MP for Castle Point

The Defence Secretary added, “All the elements of that deal need to be taken forward politically, with the support of other countries in the region, and it should not be allowed to be undermined by insurgency. The honourable Gentleman urges the Government, and me, to do everything that we can to support that deal, and he can rest assured that we do that daily.”

According to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the referendum on Kirkuk must be held no later than the end of 2007. Eligible voters in Kirkuk will decide whether they wish to be part of the Kurdistan Region, or to remain a separate province.

The Ba’athist regime forcibly deported or expelled tens of thousands of Kirkuk citizens, confiscated their properties, and gerrymandered the province’s borders in a long campaign to alter the city’s demography. The Iraqi constitution states that the government of Iraq shall carry out the steps necessary to remedy those injustices and sets a deadline for this to be completed by the end of 2007.

Both Mr Spink and Mr Browne welcomed the Kurdistan Region’s social and economic progress. The Conservative MP for Castle-Point said, “He [Des Browne] knows, of course, that the Kurdish sector of Iraq—the other Iraq, as it is known—is making excellent progress economically, socially and politically.”

Mr Browne added, “I am grateful to the honourable Gentleman for reminding the House of the progress that has been made in northern Iraq. Sometimes one could be forgiven for thinking that it did not exist, but many millions of people live there. It has made quite good progress, not just since action was taken in Iraq by our forces in coalition with others, but prior to that, because of the protection that we granted people from the actions that Saddam Hussein had perpetrated in the area.”