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KurdistanObserver.com
President Barzani Urges Kurds To Back Iraq Charter
ARBIL, Iraq, Aug 29 (AFP) - Massud Barzani,
president of northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish zone, Monday urged his
region to vote in favour of the constitution, after returning to Arbil from
exhaustive negotiations in Baghdad.
"I call on all Kurdish people to vote 'yes' at the referendum on the
constitution" scheduled for October 15, Barzani told reporters, praising the
text as "a solid base to build a democratic, federal, and pluralistic Iraq."
"I can't say that the text is up to all the aspirations of the people of
Kurdistan, but it is a compromise between our people and those in the rest of
Iraq," Barzani said.
"I want to reassure the people of Kurdistan by telling them the text will
bring them progress and prosperity," he added, saying the final draft presented
to parliament in Baghdad on Sunday was better than Iraq's current interim law.
Concerning the Sunni Arabs, whose negotiators strongly opposed the text,
Barzani said that "nobody knows whether they represent all the Sunni Arabs or
not".
"If they represent the majority of Sunni Arabs, the referendum will reflect
that," Barzani said.
Even before the drawing up of the final document after weeks of negotiations
in which Barzani took part, the Kurdish regional parliament approved the draft
at the request of the elected executive president of the region.
Iraq's Kurdish-controlled zone is made up of three provinces: Arbil,
Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk. |
