Kursat
Resul Ali, an official from the PUK said that Iraqi Shiites and Kurds have
reached an agreement envisioning that the the peshmerga, will be included
in the Iraqi army but will stay under Kurdish control. "We have reached an
agreement on giving the peshmerga a legal status both enabling them to
remain as a part of the Iraqi army and as a special force to protect
Kurdistan under the Kurdish government's supervision." Resul told AFP in
Sulaimani.
-----------------
Najat
Hassan Karim, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, said one of his
guards was injured when a roadside bomb targeting his convoy exploded in the
ethnically mixed city. "I suspect Islamist militants were behind the
attack," Karim said.
Political negotiations to form a coalition
government remained snagged in a disagreement between Shiite Arabs and
Kurds. Sistani, was expected to meet Wednesday with Jalal Talabani. The
Kurds want the Kurdish city of Kirkuk to be returned to the autonomous Kurd
region as soon as the government convenes, but an official from Sistani's
office said he wants the issue handled in the constitution to be drafted by
the National Assembly. Ahmad Chalabi, told Al-Arabiya television that the
Kurds also wanted the powerful ministry of oil position in the new Cabinet,
reported AP
-----------------
Speaking on the second
anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq,the
US Defence Secretary has blamed Turkey for the high level of the insurgency
in Iraq. "Given the level of the insurgency today, two years later, clearly
if we had been able to get the 4th Infantry Division in from the north, in
through Turkey, more of the Iraqi, Saddam Hussein, Baathist regime would
have been captured or killed," said Rumsfeld.
In the
oil-rich Kurdish city of Kirkuk, attackers killed a policeman, then bombed
his funeral procession, killing three other officers, including the cousin
of Jalal Talabani
-----------------
Some U.S.
administration officials say that Kurdish leaders, in pressing "maximalist"
demands for power, are engaging in theatrics intended to please their
constituencies, reported the New York Times
While Massoud
Barzani drew a line on Kirkuk and peshmerga in negotiations between Southern
Kurdistan and Arab Iraq, his aide Hoshiar Zebari in Baghdad told the AFP-Arabic
affiliate that great progress was being made in the negotiations and that in
the coming days talks will focus on the distribution of Iraqi ministerial
positions. Mr. Zebari is the current foreign minister of Arab Iraq.
Shia-Kurdish talks stall over sharing power.
The Kurds want the region's boundaries redrawn now to include parts of
Kirkuk province, but the Shia insist on leaving that decision to a
constitutional government. The Shia say they are resisting a demand that
would require the Iraqi army to get permission from Kurdish leaders before
entering their Southern Kurdistan, Los Angeles Times.
-----------------
A cameraman working for the KDP's KTV
station who was kidnapped by the terrorist two
weeks ago,
was gunned down in Mosul on Monday, reported AFP
Barzani Presents Tough Stance on Kirkuk, While his Lieutenants Surrender on
Issue to Arab Iraq Massoud Barzani warned in an
interview to be aired on Al-Arabiyah television on Friday that the fate of
the city of Kirkuk must be determined now. "We do not agree on postponing
this matter until after the constitution, we must agree on the issue of
Kirkuk now," Barzani said, the day after the election-winning Kurds and
Shiites said they were about to cement an agreement for governing the
country, reported AFP
Kurdish independent Mahmoud Othman, who is a confidante of Kurdish leaders
Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, insisted "the Kurds need a written
agreement. The other side might want to delay. They say the fundamental law
is a reference, but they (the Shiites) don't want to give us something
written," reported AFP
-----------------
Kurdish parties in Western Kurdistan called for a sit-in demonstration
Thursday against emergency laws which have been in force in Syria for the
past 42 years. The demonstration would coincide with the first anniversary
of clashes in Western Kurdistan against the security forces of Syrian
regime.
On a key benchmark for European
Union membership, the Turkish government has failed to honor pledges to help
378,000 displaced people, mainly Kurds, return home more than a decade after
the army forced them from their villages. More
News Snapshot
Kurdistan Democratic Partys
Sulaimani TV building was entirely burned down as a fire broke out in the
station late last Saturday evening, reported media in Southern Kurdistan.
-----------------
The head of the
Iraqi Turkoman Front, Farouq Abdulrahman who paid a visit to the Iraqi Shia
cleric Ayatollah Sistani, said that Sistani was pleased that the Turkoman
Front with their 3 seats in the Iraqi parliament joined the Shiite Alliance.
Abdulrahman added that the Sistani made promises on extended support toward
the Turkoman Front.
Shiite leader Ibrahim Jaafari and Kurdish leader Jalal
Talabani reached a tentative agreement Wednesday to set aside their
differences and focus on forming a new government, opening the way for a
deal that will give Iraq its first Kurdish president and an Islamist prime
minister.
More
News Snapshot
The judge Barwez
Merwani and his son Aryan Merwani - a lawyer also were shot dead outside
their home in northern Baghdads Azamyiah district on Tuesday. Aryan was a
senior member in the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [PUK] office in Baghdad.
The two layers was working for the tribunal that will try Saddam Hussein and
members of his former regime.
Mar 2, 2005
News Snapshot
In
their negotiations with the Kurdish leadership, the Shiites indicated that:
(1) the Kirkuk issue is to be decided based an Iraqi referendum, ensuring
that Kirkuk stays part of Arab Iraq, (2) Taking the presidency from the
Sunnis is sensitive and that terrorists could distort this to their
advantage and thus inflame the sensitivities of neighboring countries, and
(3) that there is no room for private armies in Iraq.
Ghazi al-Yawar told an
Iraqi TV station that Talabani would play a better role as the
Parliament Speaker. He added that only if this post (President)
is given to the Sunnis, they will feel that they are playing a role in Iraq,
since the post of the Speaker is of no good for the Sunnis, this is due to
the fact that Sunni MPs are small in numbers and that will end in the
Speaker having no real function.
Christian Science Monitor
Editorial, US, April 8
"Despite more than two months of haggling since the January 30 election [in
Iraq], the religious and ethnic factions in the new national assembly finally
chose a government this week. In the end, the voters' simple message was this:
We want one Iraq, despite the red lines being drawn among Sunni, Kurd, and Shia
...
"One startling result ... was that this largely Arab nation now has a Kurdish
president, Jalal Talabani ... Keeping [a] message of unity won't be easy ...
Shia clerics want the constitution to reflect Islamic principles and may seek to
suppress the Sunni Ba'athists of the ousted Hussein regime. Kurds want autonomy,
control of oil-rich Kirkuk, and their own militias. Sunnis just want to survive
as a minority in a Shia-dominated nation."
Wall Street Journal
Editorial, April 7
"The choice of such a prominent Kurd is ... the most significant event so far in
Iraq's democratic evolution ... The long delay in forming a government was
leading some to doubt whether Iraqis were up to the task. But Mr Talabani's
formal selection ... is a welcome sign that ... Iraq's Kurds will lend their
talents to the creation of a functional, federal state.
"Mr Talabani is hardly an unfamiliar face. Along with the likes of Ahmed
Chalabi, he was an integral part of the opposition movement that united under
the banner of the Iraqi National Congress during the later Saddam years. Too
often they were misleadingly derided as 'exiles' unfit to lead the country after
the war."
Peter W Galbraith
Boston Globe, April 7
"Mr Talabani's personality could not be more different from Saddam Hussein ...
While Saddam was insular, paranoid, and ignorant, Mr Talabani is gregarious,
widely travelled, and has an appetite for knowledge as large as his legendary
love of food. He is a humanist who opposes the death penalty ...
"Mr Talabani's elevation is the product of a deal between the two winners of
Iraq's [elections] ... The winners - a Shia religious list that was supported by
two-thirds of Iraq's Shias and a Kurdish nationalist slate that won nearly all
the votes in the Kurdish north - were able to agree that a Kurd would hold the
largely symbolic presidency while a Shia would be the more powerful prime
minister. They agreed on a division of cabinet portfolios, but on almost nothing
else ...
"The simple reality [is] that the people of Kurdistan do not want to be Iraqi
at all. Simultaneous with the official balloting in January, Kurdistan held an
informal referendum on the region's status, with 97% choosing independence ...
Even if Kurds and Shias can find common ground on a loose federal system, it is
hard to see how it will last. The Kurdish people will always want their own
state and will use the democratic process to ratchet up their demands." · Peter W Galbraith is a former US ambassador to Croatia
Guneri Civaoglu
Milliyet, Turkey, April 7
"Mr Talabani is a guarantee against the formation of a Kurdish state in the
north of Iraq and Iraq being dissolved. The north being broken away from Iraq
and left to [his fellow Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud] Barzani will not suit Mr
Talabani's interests. Compared to a half-portion of the Kurdish leadership in
northern Iraq, the presidency of Iraq represents a big phase for Mr Talabani. He
will want to play the role of a key person for the US, the UK and Israel. And
this is not against Turkey's interests."
Via BBC Monitoring
Washington Post
Editorial, April 7
"The challenges still to be met by Iraq's emerging leadership during the rest of
this year are so daunting as to inspire anxiety in any outside observer. A new
constitution is due by August; that must be followed by a referendum in which
authorities will have to win a majority in at least some Sunni and
Kurdish-populated provinces. After that comes another national election for a
permanent government.
"To reach this week's accord, Shia and Kurdish leaders put off potentially
explosive problems that soon must be defused, like the future of the ethnically
mixed city of Kirkuk. They are still at the beginning of their efforts to reach
an accommodation with Sunnis and prepare a national army that can turn back the
insurgency with less help from the US troops. Failure remains a distinct
possibility."
Basim al-Shaykh
Al-Dustur, Iraq, April 7
"Now that Uncle Jalal has been named president of Iraq, the government has no
option but to translate slogans into facts, turn words into deeds and work for
the benefit of Iraq. The president is now responsible for Iraq in its entirety,
rather than one region alone ... It makes no difference whether he is a Kurd,
Arab, Turkoman, Muslim, Christian or Yezidi. What is important is that he is
Iraqi."
Via BBC Monitoring
Al-Watan
Editorial, Saudi Arabia, April 7
"The new government should handle the current crisis by regarding national
expectations as a crucial factor in ending the occupation ... There are many
players involved in the Iraqi quagmire, and they only want to shuffle cards and
kindle a civil war, which would only hinder the creation of a sovereign and
independent national government."
Via BBC Monitoring
