Iraq Kurds pass new constitution to include Kirkuk (OIL)

[underpants]

Source: AFP

ARBIL, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq's autonomous region of Kurdistan on Wednesday passed a new constitution in which it laid claim to the disputed oil-rich province of Kirkuk, a move likely to increase ethnic tension.

The text, which also said that areas within Nineveh and Diyala provinces were part of Iraqi Kurdistan, was approved by 96 of the 111 MPs in the regional parliament in Arbil.

The document will be put before Kurdish voters for ratification on July 25, the same day that the region holds parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Kurds have long striven to expand their northern territory beyond its current three provinces to other areas where the population was historically Kurdish, an ambition that has been bitterly contested by the Arabs who were settled there in large numbers under Saddam Hussein's ousted regime.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gbgJWPfvj_oJpMuKT7Ra0YUmtISw

[Arctic Dave]

1. July 26, less then a month before civil war. That's quick.

[PurityOfEssence]

2. Religion is always flexible in the face of money...

Or, i guess in this case, ethnic identity is...