The parliament initially intended to put the draft to a referendum Saturday, but indefinitely postponed the referendum in an extraordinary session July 9, following pressure from Arab Iraqi parties and the US.

The disputed areas bordering the Kurdish semi-autonomous region are not currently formally administered by the Kurdish regional government, but Kurdish political parties and militias exercise considerable influence there.

Many Iraqi Kurds hope to make Kirkuk, the current capital of al-Ta'mim, the capital of a future independent Kurdish state, and to fuel the economy with its nearby oil fields.

Control of Kirkuk and its environs has long been the subject of sore dispute in Iraq. Saddam Hussein's government systematically sought to change the ethnic composition of the area by forcing Kurds to resettle elsewhere and settling Arab Iraqis in the province in their stead.

Iraqi politicians have several times deferred tackling the thorny issue of control of the region, and its oil. The province did not participate in January's provincial council elections after politicians representing groups with rival claims failed to agree on language governing the conduct of the provincial elections there.

Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution deals with the status of Kirkuk and other disputed territories, by way of enshrining an article of the administrative law the transitional government

instituted after the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.

According to that law, the Iraqi government 'shall act expeditiously to take measures to remedy the injustice caused by the previous regime's practices in altering the demographic character of

certain regions, including Kirkuk'.

But the law also defers 'permanent resolution of disputed territories, including Kirkuk' until after a series of measures have been taken to accomplish those goals, and until 'a fair and transparent census has been conducted'.

The Iraqi government has yet to carry out such a census.