Text News

Mar 31, 2005 • Japan Falls For Turkey's Lies • Those Who Can't Bully USA, Bully Kurds • Kurdish National Congress Holds 17th Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee • Barham Salih Says Shiites Still Want Iraq’s Oil Ministry • One Killed, 17 Wounded in Car Bombing Against Kurdish Official

Mar 27, 2005

• Kurds Wield New Power in Kirkuk Politics

• Shia Leader: We Didn't Promise The Kurds Kirkuk

• Sgt. 1st Class Jose Alvarez Jr: They Love Us Here

• News Snapshot

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.

Mar 25, 2005

• More than 40 Kurds arrested in Aleppo, Western Kurdistan

• 'Mein Kampf' a Best Seller in Turkey

• Al-Ja’afari Premier Credentials Questioned

Mar 24, 2005

• Iraq Sticks to Quota System in Forming Government

Mar 23, 2005

• Shiites, Kurds Say Iraq Government Posts Almost Divided Up

• Turkish Army Warns Kurds Over Burning of Turkey Flag

Mar 21, 2005

• Insider notes from United Press International for March 21

• News Snapshot

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.

Mar 20, 2005

• The Politics of Ibrahim Parlak, The New York Times

• Talabani: Kirkuk issue Will Be Discussed When The New Constitution Is Ratified

• Kurdistan - An Enigma Within Iraq

• Asylum-seeker: Will Never Forget The Pain The Japanese Government Has Caused Us

• News Snapshot

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

Mar 19, 2005

• Zebari: All The Principles Have Been Agreed Upon By All The Parties

• 'Dutch Chemical Ali' On Trial For Genocide

• U.S. Ambassador To Turkey Resigns

Mar 18, 2005

• Groups Make Progress on New Iraq Gov't

Mar 16, 2005

• News Snapshot

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.

• Freedom Fighters in Eastern Kurdistan Hope for Their Moment

Mar 15, 2005

• News Snapshot

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

• Kurds' Return to City Shakes Politics in Iraq

Mar 13, 2005

• Shia-Kurdish Talks to Form Iraq Government Fail

Mar 12, 2005

• Egypt Aided Iraq's 1980s Weapons Program

• News Snapshot

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 • Barzani: Kurdish MPs Approval Needed For Iraqi Troops In Kurdistan • Shiites, Kurds Agree To Share Power In New Iraqi Government • Kurds, Shiites agree to resolve fate of Kirkuk Mar 11, 2005 • Deal with Shiites for Token Arab Iraqi Presidency Leaves Kurds with Little to Gain • Syria: End human Rights Violations Against The Syrian Kurds Mar 10, 2005 • Crisis Looms In Kirkuk Over Power-Sharing • Neighboring Kurds Travel to Study in Southern Kurdistan. Listen To NPR • News Snapshot 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. Mar 8, 2005 • Turkey: Hollow Promises for Kurds Displaced by Army 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 Party’s 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. Mar 7, 2005 • Turkey Renames "Foreign" Animals • Kurds Agree To Make The Issue Of Kirkuk Part Of The next Legislative Debate • On With Reform Drive, EU Enlargement Chief Tells Turkey Mar 5, 2005 • Meek Kurdish Leaders to Settle for Token Presidential Post in Return for Shiite Dominance • Barham Salih Discusses The Political Wheeling And Dealing For NPR • Syrian Persecution of Kurds Intensifies Mar 4, 2005 • Threats Against Kurdish Human Rights Defenders Must Stop • Kurdistan Referendum Movement Criticized • Kurdish Editor Banned From Working For Two Years • Kurdish Official: Flights To And From Arbil-Frankfort Start Next Month • Iraq Shiites In Key Talks With Kurds On New Leadership Line-Up Mar 3, 2005 • Talabani Says the Kurds Have Dropped Their Demand For Now To Incorporate Kirkuk Into Kurdistan Region 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 Baghdad’s 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. • Unease Among Kurds As Leaders Eye Baghdad Power • Kurdish And Shiite Leadership Begin Heavy Bargaining Mar 1, 2005 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.”

KurdistanObserver.com

Iraq's president expects constitution by August

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD, April 8 (Reuters) - Iraq's new president, veteran Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, said on Friday that lawmakers will meet a mid-August deadline for writing a constitution despite weeks of delay in forming a government.

The new constitution is meant to be ready by Aug. 15, although lawmakers are allowed to request a six-month delay. If the process becomes deadlocked, this could benefit insurgents trying to overthrow the U.S.-backed government.

"Drafting the constitution will be done on time," Talabani told Reuters in his first interview since being named president.

Once a government is formed, writing a constitution is the next key political step on the road to new elections by end-2005.

Ten weeks after Iraq's Jan. 30 elections, a new government has yet to be formed due to haggling among political blocs. But progress was made this week with Talabani becoming president and Shi'ite leader Ibrahim Jaafari named prime minister.

The government's top priority would be bringing stability to Iraq and fighting the insurgency, Talabani said.

"The first thing we are thinking of doing after forming a national unity government is to build stability and security and to terminate terrorism," he said, adding that some insurgents may be offered an amnesty if their crimes were not too serious.

"We need to make a distinction between misled Iraqis, those who believe that they are carrying weapons to liberate Iraq from what they call occupation, and criminal gangs that came from outside and wants to wage a deadly war on the Iraqi people, killing women and children in mosques and churches," he said.

Criminals and foreign fighters would be isolated and hunted down, Talabani said. "As for the others, we might enter in dialogue with them and call on them to join the Iraqi democratic process and issue a pardon for them," he said.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR KURDS

The election of Talabani has shown the new political clout of the Kurds, who have ruled an autonomous enclave in northern Iraq since breaking away from Saddam Hussein's rule in 1991.

Talabani said he had long dreamed that a Kurd would one day be president of Iraq -- but never thought it would be him:

"I never dreamt of taking any position. I was hoping for a democratic and federal Iraq, but I never cared for positions. I expected that one day when Iraq becomes a country where citizens are equal that a Kurd would be a president, and why not?"

He said that as a young man he had modest aspirations. "All I wanted was to be a university teacher," Talabani said.

Talabani's Kurdish coalition came second in the polls, behind a Shi'ite alliance. Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who dominated the country during Saddam Hussein's rule, have been left with minimal representation in parliament because few voted.

Shi'ite and Kurdish leaders say they will ensure that Sunni Arabs are included in government.

"Our Sunni Arabs brothers made a big mistake when they boycotted the elections," Talabani said. "But they are an important group and we cannot ignore them and therefore they must take part in the democratic process."

Talabani said he would meet Sunni Arab leaders to try to persuade them to rejoin the political process. He said he would also work to get Sunni Arab prisoners released from jails if they were not accused of specific crimes or insurgent attacks.

Talabani also vowed to strive to ensure that human rights would be respected and Iraq would never return to dictatorship.

"We must provide all kinds of freedom, personal and economic, to all Iraqis. I will fight for that," he said.

"What happened during dictatorship must not happen again, and we should do whatever it takes to prevent any of the crimes that happened before from happening again."

Asked if he had a message for his predecessor Saddam, Talabani said he would remind the ousted dictator about a letter that Talabani had sent to him before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

"I told you in my last letter, answering a threatening letter you sent me, that you should resign and hand over authority to an interim government that would run the country and supervise elections to save yourself and your people," Talabani said.

"It is too bad you didn't listen to me," he said. "Every human must take responsibility for his actions."

KurdistanObserver.com