Shafaq News / Nasser Harki, a member of the Parliamentary Security and Defense Committee revealed on Monday, efforts made by his committee to stop a new Arabization process in Kirkuk province.

The proxy governor of Kirkuk, Rakan al-Jubouri had sent a letter to the headquarters of the Joint Operations Command in Kirkuk on May 17, demanding to house Arab citizens from al- Shammar tribe in residential homes in the governorate, that were allegedly deserted after 2003 and to expel those who currently reside there.

"We visited the operations command in Kirkuk to stop letters related to the Kurdish lands in Kirkuk city, where these are disputed areas covered by Article 140 of the Iraqi constitutional,” Harki told Shafaq News Agency.

"These areas have not been decided upon by the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)," noting that "this is a political issue, not an administrative one."

Harki added quoting the commander of Kirkuk operations, Saad Harbiyya, his vow, that all letters over lands in Kirkuk governorate should be suspended.

Kirkuk and other disputed areas were exposed to a large-scale demographic change in the previous regime in favor of the Arabs at the expense of the Kurds and Turkmen.

The former regime has expelled the Kurdish and Turkmen citizens from their homes and agricultural lands and granted them to Arabs brought from other provinces.

After the fall of the previous Iraqi regime in 2003, many Kurdish citizens returned to their homes and agricultural lands according to Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, which stipulates removing demographic change policies then conducting a census of the region’s population forthcoming  the last stage of a referendum whereby the residents of those areas choose to join Kurdistan Region or the federal government in Baghdad.

It was due to end the implementation of Article 140 by the end of 2007, but KRG repeatedly accused the federal authorities of hindering the settlement over these areas.