A possible solution to the dispute over the status of the disputed city Kirkuk has raised the ire of Kurdish leader Mas'ud Barzani, who threatened to divide Iraq if the constitution were not honored. Barzani, president of the semi-autonomous Kurdish province in northern Iraq, reminded the Iraqi legislatures that clause 140 in the Iraqi Constitution of 2005, called for a referendum on Kirkuk. "If clause 140 dies, then so will the Constitution, and you will have to take responsibility for the division of Iraq," Barzani said Wednesday, according to the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-'Arabi.

Barzani, who spoke at a meeting with Kurdish leaders, expressed his hope that the problem would be solved peacefully and legally.

The Iraqi parliament on Tuesday failed to approve a draft law concerning the provincial election law after Kurdish lawmakers disagreed on a clause regarding Kirkuk. The clause proposes a power-sharing proposal, according to which the oil-rich city's council would comprise 10 Kurdish members, 10 Arabs, 10 Turkmens and two Christians.

In an attempt to resolve the dispute, Arab and Turkmen legislators, who represent two minorities in the Kurdish province, suggested on Wednesday to divide Kirkuk into four constituencies.

The Kurdistan Regional Government rejected the proposal and demanded that the whole of Kirkuk be regarded as one constituency. The Kurds maintain Kirkuk has a predominantly Kurdish population. According to the 2005 Iraqi Constitution, a referendum was supposed to take place in Kirkuk sometime during 2007. The referendum was to determine whether the city's residents wished to stay under Baghdad's administration or whether they wished to belong to the semi-autonomous province under the control of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Security and technical problems have so far delayed the referendum. The Kurdish lawmakers have therefore been trying to postpone the provincial council vote in Kirkuk until a referendum -- or at least a special-status agreement -- is held.

The Media Line