Mosul citizens protest annexing parts of city to Kurdistan

An official of the Turkmen Front in Mosul said on Friday they staged a demonstration in coordination with tribal chiefs and notables to protest the annexation of parts of the province of Ninewa to the Iraqi Kurdistan region. "A peaceful demonstration was organized in the area of al-Qobba, north of Mosul, on Friday afternoon with 300 tribal chiefs and notables of Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish areas in the city to reject some of the items contained in the Kurdistan region," Mohammed Jarallah, the Front's media office director, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The predominantly Turkmen area of al-Qobbais 10 km north of Mosul. "The demonstrators called on the local government in Ninewa as well as the central government to quickly intervene to stop attempts of cutting parts of Ninewa to annex to Kurdistan region," he added. The autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region's parliament ad voted on June 24, 2009 with a majority of 96 out of 97 who attended that session in favor of a draft constitution that considered Kirkuk as a Kurdish province, in addition to some areas in Ninewa. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.