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.
ANKARA, April 6 (AFP)
- Leading Kurdish activist Leyla Zana urged the Turkish government Wednesday to
grant general amnesty to thousands of armed Kurdish rebels as a key step towards
ending the Kurdish conflict in the country.
"Disarming the youths in the mountains and ridding them of violence will create
great synergy on the way to democracy," Zana said in a statement.
"What should be done is to embrace our people and integrate them into social and
political life through democratic legislation," she said. "Such a practical step
will eradicate the ground for violence and bring relief to our country."
Militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) waged a bloody campaign
for self-rule in Turkeys southeast between 1984 and 1999 in a conflict that
claimed some 36,500 lives.
The PKK ended a five-year unilateral truce with Ankara in June, raising tensions
in the region.
Zana, a former parliamentarian and a winner of the European Parliaments human
rights award, was last June released from a decade in jail for allegedly
collaborating with the Kurdish rebellion.
She and three other Kurdish activists are now being retried.
Ankara has in the past amnestied rebels, but the measures produced disappointing
results, mainly because they contained conditions demanding the militants to
repent and provide information about underground PKK activities.
Only about 250 rebels turned themselves in under the latest amnesty in 2003.
The PKK is believed to have about 5,000 militants in Turkey and in the mountains
of neighboring northern Iraq.
