KurdistanObserver.com

The latest On The Agreement On Constitution Talks

Source: Several World Media/ Aug 13, 2005

A draft of Iraq's new constitution should be ready by Sunday, a day ahead of schedule, President Jalal Talabani said, but some involved with drafting the document doubted the deadline could be met.

"If God is willing, tomorrow it will be ready," Talabani told a news conference in Baghdad on Saturday, although he said two major issues remained under negotiation.

 "There are no obstacles but discussions on federalism in the south and the relation between religion and state."

Talabani's spokesman Kamran Qaradaghi hinted later the talks were heading toward accepting a softer federalism that still gave Kurds autonomy guarantees and powers to the provinces.

"There is an opinion favoring decentralization, with wide powers for the provinces and an assurance of the special nature of the Kurdish region," he said in a statement.

Qaradaghi said Kurdish and Shi'ite politicians would continue talking late into Saturday night.

An agreement on the crucial issue of oil, along with 13 other issues including the name of Iraq, the future of the peshmerga or Kurdish Pshmerga, and the issue of the disputed northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Under the agreement, revenues from oil now being produced will belong to the federal government and will be distributed evenly throughout the country, based on population and necessity.

 "Federal Republic of Iraq" would be the name of Iraq

  Peshmerga as a security force for Southern Kurdistan

It has been decided that for Kirkuk situation should be "normalised" by December 15 at the latest.

Normalisation could involve returning thousands of expelled Kurds to lands which Saddam handed to Arabs.