KRG insists Article 140 remains legal framework

Shafaq News- Kirkuk

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) General Board for Kurdistani Areas on Thursday rejected Kirkuk Governor Mohammed Samaan Agha’s assertion that Article 140 of Iraq’s Constitution had expired, insisting it continues to provide the legal basis for resolving the disputed territories.

In a statement, the board described the Constitution as the foundation of Iraq’s political system and urged the governor to respect its provisions. It cautioned that questioning Article 140 could deepen divisions among Kirkuk’s communities and distract from the province’s pressing service and development needs.

A day earlier, Kurdistan Democratic Party’s (KDP) Kirkuk-Garmian office argued that Article 140 is still valid despite the passing of its original implementation deadline.

Agha had argued that Iraq “erred” by including Article 140 in the Constitution and that the provision ceased to apply after the Dec. 31, 2007 deadline.

Article 140 sets out a three-stage process —normalization, a population census, and a referendum— to determine the administrative status of disputed territories between the federal government and the KRG, particularly Kirkuk. Although the implementation deadline passed in 2007, the article has never been carried out and remains one of the main unresolved disputes between Baghdad and Erbil.

Kirkuk, one of Iraq’s most ethnically and religiously diverse provinces, is home to Kurds, Iraqi Turkmens, Arabs, and Christian communities, including Chaldeans and Assyrians.

Read more: Discover Iraq: Kirkuk, a city of oil, culture, and conflict