The third branch of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Kirkuk demanded postponing the population census in the province until Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution is implemented.

The branch official, Mohammed Kamal, said in a press conference, "Preparations for the population census are necessary, but the situation in Kirkuk is different and the province is not prepared to conduct it. There are displaced people from Kirkuk in the cities of the Kurdistan Region, and in 1988 the Baathist regime demolished 4,500 Kurdish villages and deported their residents to the provinces of the Kurdistan Region."

He added: "The timing of the census is inappropriate and Article 140 of the Constitution must be implemented and then the population census must be conducted throughout Iraq."

Kamal demanded postponing the census in Kirkuk, and he also called on the people of Kirkuk to return to the province, especially those residing in the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, and to record their information for the purpose of confirming it in the census process in the event that the census proceeds.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency